Ashes of Memories
by Jd Wheels
Summary: In a flight for survival, Robin finds herself alone after the destruction of the Factory. Will she find safety, or will SOLOMON hunt her down like all of the others? Who could help her, and why does SOLOMON still want her dead? Rating changed to 'M'
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Witch Hunter Robin, and nor do I make any money off of my writings in any way.**_

Tokyo City was in the clutches of the night, yet it was alive with the night residence that came out at sundown. It was like that, the city was a paradox between the hard working people of day, and the underbelly of life that came out at night.

On one half way quiet street, stood a run down rooming house. It was one that had been used as a place for us forces during the Korean War, but now was used for lodgings for people on the fringes of the light and dark

In the window of one of the rooms on the third floor, stood a figure of a young girl who seemed barely sixteen, watching the world outside. She was unmoving, face registering no emotions, as she blankly watched the bustle of the night pass by the front of her hotel.

After awhile of standing there, she turned from the window and headed back into her little room.

Sitting herself down on her all too hard bed, she seemed to be now breaking out of her emotionless state. A downcast look now flooded across her sleek face, as she regarded her very small space around her with a vacant glance motion.

The place only had a single bed, a table and a older type of television perched on a small stand in it. The only other thing the room had was a very small bathroom off of it. Judging from the very out-of-date furnishings, it was not a four star hotel she was in, not in anyone's imagination. It was oddly a clean room though, even though most people would have called her place a 'rat-trap' or a 'flea trap'.

She seemed to slip into her mind, now thinking on a time not far from reality. She looked down and shook her head, as the sadness grew on her young face.

" Amon..." She whispered to herself, her small voice wavering with an upheaval of emotions

Her mind quickly flickered back to when she had last seen the person called Amon, as the Factory had been falling all around the both of them. She remembered that time well with the tall, dark eyes man like if it had just happened.

She had just used her power to free the souls of the captured Witches from Zaizen's sick trap for ORBO manufacturing, and setting her own destiny in the process...when the whole complex started to crash down all around her. They ran through the disintegrating complex, hoping to find a way out of this tempest that was consuming place all around them.

Amon was pulling her along a corridor by a hand, trying to get them both out of there in one piece, as the place shook and trembled, beginning to disintegrate. With flashing feet, they made their way towards a open doorway they saw far ahead of themselves, seeing the freedom of outside that was so desperately sought through the smoke that was now thick.

The hallway suddenly exploded as they got to the door, then walls began to collapsed around them. The place was alive with the sounds of the building literally blowing itself apart, and rocked them both nearly off their feet.

As the building was dying, the man suddenly pushed the girl out of the doorway, as an explosion ripped out from behind them.

" Amon!!" She cried, as she saw the ceiling collapsing on him as she lay on the grass just outside.

" Save yourself, Robin...He called out loudly through the smoke. " Solomon will be after you and..."

His last words were abruptly cut off, as the concrete and steel made his form vanish from view. A flash of another major explosion finished off the hallway in flames and smoke, the blast throwing the girl rolling across the ground. When she stopped, she looked to the door, and just knew there was no escape for the man.

" AMON!!!!!!!" Robin could hear herself scream over and over again, as the building began to sink into itself almost as if in slow motion.

She got up after hearing a final rumbling of the dying building shook the ground under her. She turned and ran for all she was worth, knowing that the man was now dead, yet had saved her life one last time. Tears flowed over her dust and soot covered face, as she stole away from the place.

Loitering around her would be futile, and dangerous, and she scurried off into the shadows that still were there as the sun rose over the scene. She only knew one thing for sure, the man that she had came to believe in and care about, was gone.

Robin began to cry, pushing the memory away, and returning to her very meager surroundings. She buried her head in her hands, as the death of the one person she fully had trusted played in her head over and over again. Totally overwhelmed, she cried for a long time, as she had every night since the fall of the evil building. Only one moth had passed since that time already, it seemed like forever to her.

She stopped after a while and stood up, wiping her face with a tissue. She looked over at the half eaten plate of room service she had ordered, and found the remnants to be not exciting her any longer. She sighed and turned herself to the television, looking at whatever was on vacantly as she poured a cup of coffee from a travel pot she had been given.

She sat there for awhile, sipping on the coffee. She grimaced with every sip she took, as it was a fairly weak brewed coffee the hotel had given her, but she kept on drinking it. She thought on Amon's last words, and from the few clues she had, knew that SOLOMON was already following her, yet she was sure that at least today, she gave them the slip.

Now holed up in this less that wonderful hotel, she hoped that she had found a place to rest and hide for awhile, until she could think on what the next step would be for her.

Robin pulled out a handful of money from her dress pocket and looked at it carefully, counting it closely aided by the single lamp that was the room only source of illumination.

The girl frowned deeply. She had counted that she had enough money left for a few more nights of staying in this place, and that was just barely. She counted again, just to make sure, and she came up with the exact count as she had the first time. Snuffing to herself, the girl knew that she would have to find a way to make more money after what she had was exhausted, and possibly find a new place to hide also.

Robin had no clue on how she was going to do all of that, but she was hopeful that she would figure out something before she found herself without shelter. She stuffed her money back in her dress pocket for safe keeping and sat, pondering over the situation.

After awhile longer, she found her eyelids becoming heavy and fatigue was flowing through her. She knew that this problem of her's would have to wait until the morning, sleep was becoming something of importance for her now. She put the cup back on the table and knew it was the time to let herself sleep for awhile.

She quickly undressed herself from her bulky attire, carefully folding and hanging her clothing in her normal fastidious way. She made sure that her clothes were hung on a hook near her bed, just in case they would be needed.

Robin crawled into the bed and shut off the light, wanting nothing more than to get some decent sleep. She tucked herself in and layed there in the dark for long seconds, listening to the odd sounds of the hotel at night.

The partially worn sheets felt a little rough against her bare body, but they were not too annoying. She rolled the blankets around herself a little tighter and sighed, finally allowing herself to relax, and drift off into what could be called a flat sleep

After a month of hiding and staying one step in front of SOLOMON and their agents the sleep was more than justified.

Robin awoke from her slumber with a start, being shot out of sleep when hearing odd noises coming from right out in front of her door.

Laying there in the dark, she then heard a muffled gaging sound, then followed by a heavy thump on the floor right in front of the door. She sat herself up and quickly grabbed her clothes from where they hung with in reach, dressing herself smoothly with practiced motion still cloaked in the darkness. If she was going to have to defend herself, she wanted to be dressed, she told herself.

Just as she got everything but her shoes and hosiery on, the door burst wide open, the lock simply crumbled out of the doorjam like if it was made out of simple paper She slipped on her glasses, ready to protect herself at any cost, as Amon's last words had warned her to do.

Every fiber of her body stiffened to the ready, seeing that a shadowy figure had come in to her room, but it strangely seemed like that it was dragging something heavy with it as it crossed the threshold. She glared at the person in her room now, reading herself for the fight she expected to come.

Her whole body suddenly relaxed at once as the figure seemed to be dumping a lifeless form of another person on to the cheap carpet unceremoniously. The light from the window had now fell on the person's face, and she could see the profile perfectly. She gasped and automatically knew who the figure of the still standing man was now. It was none other than her friend Nagira.

He looked at Robin and flashed a smile, a lit smoke dangling precariously from his thin lips as he set his trademark fur coat around his shoulders.

" Knock, Knock!!" He said, making the smoke dance as his smile came out.

" Nagira!!" She said loudly, turning on the lamp to show that it really was the thin man that stood before her.

He finished depositing a lifeless body to the ground just at the foot of the bed and looked at the young girl sitting there.

" Well, I ain't room service here!" Was his come back, with a sigh and smirk.

The thin man moved very quickly over to the girl, who still clutched her footwear in her hands. He reached out and gripped on of her wrists in an half rough fashion.

" C'mon..." He said urgently, dragging Robin to her feet. " We got to get the hell outta here right now!"

" How... who... What?" She stammered, her mind not knowing what to ask first as she was pulled.

The man sighed, but looked at the shocked faced girl..

" The 'how': I will tell you later, the 'who' is a SOLOMON hunter that was after your pretty little ass and 'what' will also be told to you later..." He said, dragging her past the body of a man that layed on the floor. " That is that!"

" But... where?" She stammered frantically, finding herself nearly tripping as she hurried on her bare feet.

" We got no time for bouncing around any of your questions here, girl..." He said in a sharp tone, yanking her out of the doorway. " First, we have to get down to my car, then get the fuck out of here... then I will answer your questions."

Robin fell speechless and hurried her feet to match the man's surprising speed. He nodded and they hurried down the very limited lit hallway, and away from her room in silence.

Quickly, Nagira pulled the girl down the back set of stairs and then out of the hotel's back door, surprisingly silent. All the girl could do now, was simply be led out into the night.


	2. Chapter 2 Fight for flight

**Chapter Two - Fight for Flight**

After piling in to Nagira's older model sports car, she felt the vehicle shoot off into the night as she settled into the seat quickly. Her unexpected companion was very keen on getting the heck out of there.

She looked at Nagira, feeling her heart pounding wildly in her chest. The man seemed to be somewhat calm and collected, but she could feel that the car was going way beyond the posted speed limits for city streets. She just sat back and waited for him to start explain things to her.

They had been driving for a while through the almost barren streets, but Robin quickly had noticed that they had been driving around it what seemed to be circles.

"Why are we driving in circles?" She asked.

Nagira did not look over at her, his face showing no emotion.

" We have company back there." He flatly said.

" Company?" She asked.

" The car right behind us." He calmly said.

The girl turned herself in the seat, taking a quick glance out the back window to see what the man was talking about.

She saw a small dark colored compact car following very close to them, it's headlights barely visible over the trunk. She eyed the car for a moment, her mind noting that they were matching their speed almost identically.

" How did you know they were following us?" She asked.

" They have been on our tail since we left the hotel..." He dryly answered. " I have drove around, zig-zagging around the downtown area on purpose... That car follows us like some shadow."

Robin glanced back at the car again, seeing it still was trailing her..

" Do you know who they are?" Calmly asked the girl.

" If I knew that... I'd know what to do." He said with a snuff of frustration. " They have been following our ever turn."

" Then what are you going to do?"

" I am trying to figure out that right now..." He said

Suddenly, the car was buffeted by a large explosion going off on the side where Nagira drove from. The car slid over to the side violently, but the man expertly kept it on the road somehow, much to the thankfulness of Robin.

" Shit!" Nagira spat through clenched teeth, taking a quick glance back. " What the hell was that?"

Robin's brow furrowed, as she glanced back at their pursuers. She seemed to know the answer to Nagira's frustrated question.

" A craft.." She said almost too calmly. " Someone in the car is a Witch... or a hunter...That was a craft."

" A craft?" Said the man, turning the car onto another street suddenly. " Son of a Bitch!"

" I feel a craft at work here..." She said with a slow tone. " From that car that is following us."

Nagira turned the car down another side street, just as a blast could be felt from behind. With his free hand, he pulled out a rather large handgun from just inside his coat and held it up at the ready. Robin saw the movement, but did not flinch.

" Just what we need right fuckin' now..." He growled, gripping the wheel tightly with his one hand. " Hold on, Hunter or Witch... I will try and lose them..."

Robin felt herself slammed hard back into the seat, as Nagira gunned the car to a greater speed. She ventured a look back, and saw the car was still right with them as they careened through the streets while buffeted with even more blasts, matching their speed almost instantly. She turned back, her mind spinning with what was going on.

She looked at Nagira, and saw he was concentrating on the road ahead while one eye was on the rearview mirror. She felt every twists and turns as the car rally raced through every road, her heart was now really pounding.

Nagira cranked the wheel again, this time skidding onto a side road. Robin was thrown into the door by the force of the move. She held on to the dashboard, trying to keep herself from being banged around like she was. The girl glanced back after the sudden movement, and could see the car still tailing them, they were now a little closer to them by then.

Robin suddenly unhooked her seatbelt and crawled up to sit with her knees on the seat. Nagira looked over, seeing the movement of the girl beside him from the corner of his eye.

" What the fuckin' hell are you doing?" He said, trying to keep the car under control.

" Keep driving..." She said, reaching up to steady herself some. " I will do what I can."

" What ever you do... be careful there." He muttered, keeping the car as steady as he could.

The girl opened the sunroof of the car, and stood up on her knees while Nagira kept them one step away from crashing as they fled. She poked her head out cautiously, seeing the car still was so very close to their back bumper.

She slipped back on her glasses from where she had them stowed in her pocket, and grimly looked back at their company, a flicker flashing in her green eyes. The car was now only a few feet from their back fender and gaining.

The car following seemed to abruptly slow a little, as they perhaps had noticed the girl poking out of the sunroof, but it was too late. The front hood of the car burst into a wild dance of flames, causing the vehicle to veer off to the left..

Out of control, it hit a parked car off to the side of the road with screeching tires as it desperately tried to stop. A metal crunching crash was heard reverberating through the darkened street, one that Robin and Nagira could literally feel as it went off, even though they had not stopped their flight.

The car exploded into a huge orange fireball that leaped many feet into the night air, flaming parts of the car were seen flying through the air in every direction. The parked car that had been hit also exploded with a equally large blast, adding to the debris that now was raining down on to homes and yards on both sides of the street.

Nagira and Robin did not stay, speeding off into the night and leaving their tailgater long since stopped being a threat. They left the scene and headed back into the main part of the city.

In a flash, Nagira put a good amount of distance between them and the crashed car, finding themselves on one of the main arteries of the city streets once again.

" Jesus bloody Christ!" He swore loudly. " I almost forgot about your little 'ability' there..."

Robin looked at the man, seemingly upset at him using her Lord's name in such a way.

" Now are you going to tell me what this is all about?" She said, her voice stiff.

Nagira looked over at the girl, and sighed a little.

" Can you wait until we are somewhere safe?"

" Safe?" She echoed, her voice becoming less tight.

" Safe!" He mimicked back.

Robin nodded, feeling that the man had a good idea. Nagira took her silence as an agreement, and snuffed.

" We will be where we are safe in a few minutes, barring any other little detours." He said. " I will explain myself then."

The interior of the car went silent, as the man drove deeper into the city. Robin just sat there, her mind reeling with the last half an hour, questions bounding in her head.


	3. Chapter 3 Eye opening

**Chapter Three - Eye opening**

The familiar sight of Nagira's law office greeted Robin's gaze, and she smiled softly. The man parked in his usual spot right close to the front door, and the two got out.

The man lit a smoke, as usual, and he nodded at his young friend.

" This is temporary... I might have a place more secure for you later." He said, taking a deep drag of his cigarette.

" I think I knew that..." Robin said.

" Like old times, hu?" He smirked, seeing her looking at the building with a little bit of a long look

The girl looked over and smiled

" The french call it Deja-vu." She said, her mind slipping back to thinking on Amon.

" Yeah, I know." He just said, looking up at his building. He knew her mind had went back to thinking on Amon.

Robin nodded, as they both went inside, as a clock somewhere nearby chimed two in the morning. She fought back the sadness she was feeling, knowing that the situation had just gotten a wee bit more complicated for her.

In the dimness of the office, the man flicked on a desk light and took a seat. He pulled out a bottle of sake, and poured himself a generous portion into a glass he had in the drawer. Robin took a seat in a chair in front of his desk and looked at the man, waiting for that promised explanation.

He took a sip and smiled as it went down. Over the lip of the glass, he could see the girl looking right at him

" Guess I have to start from the top, hu?" He said, knowing full well what the girl was wanting... and needing.

Robin nodded, but stayed silent in her usual patient way.

The man took a long drag from his smoke and then regarded the girls his mind began to think on things.

" For the last month, I had been checking into a case for a client, when I came across some information by accident about a young girl reportedly living on the street..." He began. " It came to my attention that many people seemed to be asking about this girl in very specific detail... I got a description of the girl to try and identify her and that one description closely resembled you..."

Robin looked at Nagira.

" Me?"

" Yep! You!" He drawled, sipping on his glass. " The people were not known, but rumored to be looking for the whereabouts of this girl- for reasons never explained." He shifted in his seat a little " I did some digging, and found that SOLOMON was one of those ones that were on the hunt.

" One of them?" Sharply asked the girl.

He leaned in and looked at Robin.

" I have found that they suspected that you were still alive, and it seems that some higher ups that had been in partnership with Zaizen in secret now want to know if your alive... and they have put a bounty on your ass." He took a sip of his drink. " There are others looking for you, but I know they are not with SOLOMON or the STN, but not much more than that."

" They all are looking for me... for what?"

" That I don't know either... yet." He said, putting an sharp accent on the last word. " Trust me, I am wanting to find that out.

Robin cast her eyes to her lap, her mind taking in the information. She seemed to be thinking an all of this, yet it also had seemed to give her a little fear in the mix. Her eyes were the windo to which he could see all of that , and more in the stone still young girl.

Robin lifted her face to look right into the long face of Nagira, the eyes showing a minds that was working overtime

" You think that man in the room you... took care of... was SOLOMON, or one of the others." She asked, fixing the information in her mind.

Nagira snuffed.

" That one was a SOLOMON Hunter.." He said, his voice sounding very assured of his own statement.

" You seem sure of that." Cautiously probed Robin.

The man chuckled a little, and nodded.

" Amon made sure I had a little 'inside' contacts before we took care of the Factory. He's good for that, rest my Brother's soul."

Robin blinked hard, and looked at him with such a surprised look on her face, that it shocked Nagira. His mind tried to comprehend why she had flashed him such a look as what she had... then it dawned on him.

" You did not know he was my brother?" He asked, as the answer struck him.

Robin shook her head in answer, her eyes were telling of the confusion she had at that point.. He tightened his lips and finished off his smoke.

" He never told you that we were half-brothers?" He asked.

" No..." Robin said. " He told me nothing of himself... or of his past."

The man sat back in his seat and pored himself another shot of Sake, and lifted it.

" We had the same Father, but had different mothers..." He explained somberly. " When his mother's power drove her insane, I was a little older than Amon. He had seen his mother go through that, then our father took him in, and we lived together until he was I think, fourteen or something."

Green eyes flashed with the glow of understanding.

" His mother was a witch?" Robin asked, her soft voice even more quiet than usual.

" Yes... she was."

" He was... a seed?" She whispered.

" He is a seed..." Corrected the man.

" I see..." Slowly said the girl.

Nagira nodded, and took a sip of his drink in letting the girl digest things a little. He knew, this was more than a little surprising to here, on top of everything else.

Without a hint of what was going on behind her emerald pools, Robin sat in the stillness of the office.

" In seeing his mother lose her mind like that..." She started slowly.. " That must be the reason he hated witches so much."

" That is an insight that is spot on." The man said, then gave a long stare into the girl's face. " Although he did change his mind with you, don't you know that?."

Robin's one eyebrow went up, as she looked at the man across from her.

" Me?"

" Yes... you." He replied.

" Why?"

" I suspect he finally saw that a witch can have good in them..." He thought out loud. " Much like you do."

She pondered that statement for awhile, as Nagira lit another one of his smokes. Robin watched the rising smoke for a moment, then lowered her gaze back to the man.

" May I ask one more question?"

" Shoot away." He smirked.

Robin took a breath in, and then started without a second more of hesitation.

" How did you find out where I was staying then, to rescue me?"

He put down his drink and looked into her bright green eyes. His face said it all, he was waiting on this question for a time already.

" I checked a few hotels out in the city, ones that were not perhaps on the top ten lists for tourists..." He started. " I phoned your hotel and asked about any unusual people checking in. He read me a name that sounded pretty much Italian to me, and knowing you had came from there... I looked up the word, and found that it meant 'Robin'."

" You looked it up?" She smiled.

" I can read you know..." He chuckled. " It is a prerequisite for being a Lawyer these days."

Robin give a demure giggle at the man's little breath of humor.

" I guess I might have choose a easy one to hid under." She said, seeing the simpleness of it.

" Perhaps it was..." Was his words, with a smile. " It was so plainly right there, I think the people after you had simply overlooked the obvious."

The two went silent, and they sat there for awhile in the stillness that hung over the law offices.

Robin broke the still by standing up and yawning.

" Looks like you need sleep there..." Said Nagira. " It has been an eventful night, don't you know..."

" I do..." Nodded the girl, rubbing one of her eyes.

Nagira chuckled a little.

" The room where you stayed is the exact same as you left it."

" It is?"

" Yeah... go up 'n' get some sleep."

The girl give a low bow of the head, and then went off to her place upstairs. She stopped to give the man a thankful smile, before going in the door and out of sight.

Nagira lit himself another smoke and sat back in the chair, his mood turning gravely serious. He took a couple drags and then pulled out his cell phone, dialing a number without looking at the keyboard.

It was not long of a wait before whoever he had phoned had picked up.

" We have to meet... and soon." He said into the device, voice tight. " I think this might work... as long as you are involved. We need to find who in Italy really wants some people dead!"

After another minute of listening, he hung up the phone without anything more said. Nagira poured himself another shot from his bottle, and sat back, his mood not changing in any way as he sat in silence in the almost darkness of his office.


	4. Chapter 4 Out into the open

**Chapter Four - Out into the open**

A sluggish Tuesday morning unfolded brightly, a few puffy clouds drifting across the bright pacific blue skies. Tokyo was once again alive and pulsing as another day of life appeared like it always was doing, trudging along to the beat of another business day.

Even in the Sunji law offices, the routine of the day was well underway, his employees oblivious of the boss's very event-filled night. He had not told anyone about it, or the fact that Robin was also there. He had made that decision already, knowing that to be prudent way to go, after dodging witches and other unsavory types in the process of it all- until he could unravel some of the unknowns.

After making sure that his people were immersed in the tasks of the office, Nagira took the moment to slip away and headed to the faded white door that led up to the loft apartment that was over his offices.

The man then listened behind himself at the sounds of his office staff at work, noting that everything was running normally and no one had seen him. He opened the door quietly, and stepped in and up the stairs, pausing one last time to make sure of his staff not knowing that he had slipped up to the loft.

Opening the second door at the top of the stairs, he saw the main area of the loft was void of anyone inside, as he walked in. His eyes went upwards, to the small elevated platform area, where he knew the bed was situated, in which Robin would be sleepin on.

From his extreme angle next to the tub in the room, he found that he could still see the girl was still asleep in the cot that was in that loft-ledge. He took a single step back, neck creaking to see if his young friend was awake yet

He now could clearly see Robin laying partially on her back in the cot, sleeping rather soundly judging from the soft snoring that came to his ears. He suddenly felt himself flinch on the inside, his face suddenly drain of any color while he looked upwards. His eyes widening with shock.

The blankets of her bed had slipped off of her partially, her naked right breast and the also obvious naked hip was exposed to the cool air of the room, her ivory skin softly showing in the light.. He stared at the sight for long seconds, his chivalry had basically went out the window for a time as he watched the one breast rise and fall with her constant breathing with more than just simple interest.

His mind quickly grasped that the girl was sleeping in the nude, and he froze to the spot for a second or two. He finally gathered himself and turned his head in respect to the young girl still sleeping, unaware of his presence in the room. He was horrified with the fact that he had been staring at this young thing like some sort of leering old man, his mind belching swears at him from the inside.

He pivoted the rest of himself and hurriedly exited the room, making sure to lock the door behind himself. He wiped his now sweaty brow and shook his head.

" _God Damn!" _Was all his mind could say to himself, quick walking down the steps . _" I should have knocked first!"_

The man just hurried himself back to work, pushing out the picture of the sleeping naked girl in his mind.. He shook his head at himself, as he lit a smoke and took a seat at his desk, thankful for a change that he had so many files piled high for his attention. Mika will love him for this, he told himself.

Nagira could only keep shrugging it off, passing it off as just a dumb thoughts he was having because of the unexpected peek he had gotten of the pretty craft-user. He felt more than just a little guilty thinking this way about her... she was half his age. He grunted, as he continued to think on her for a little.

Through out the following hours, he found his mind still bringing for the picture of the girl again and again, much to his exasperation.

The day had finally wore itself down, and the staff started to go home promptly at four o'clock. Nagira stayed behind, saying he was going to work on case files before going home himself.

The head secretary, Mika, looked at him with a curious look, as she headed out the door bound for her home. She was one that always was a little skeptical of the tall lawyer, even though he had settled down since the unusual incidents of a month ago. She said nothing about her curiosity, which was unusual for her to do, and left.

Lighting a smoke, he sat down and stared vacantly at his cell phone that was laying on the desk in front of himself. He sighed and just took in the silence that had fallen over his place, glancing over at the door to the upstairs a few times in expecting Robin to be down soon... which he did not actually know if she was going to be.

Time had passed very slowly and Nagira was just about to light his fourth smoke in a row, when he heard something outside. He looked out the window behind himself, and saw nothing out of the ordinary on the street.

Only his sports car and a few others parked there too was to be seen, totally the same as it had been for the better part of the day, the rest of the street was exactly the way it had been all day He snuffed, thinking he had heard nothing at all, and quickly lit the smoke and relaxed back into the chair

The front door of the offices suddenly exploded off of their hinges and into the area. Nagira stood up smoothly from his chair, bringing his large handgun out from it's place in his drawer on the left in a blink of an eye as he watched the rising smoke of where his doors use to be.

A figure in black, holding a large rifle at Nagira appeared out of nowhere. They both locked eyes for a fraction of a moment.

" The girl... where is she!" The obviously male person shouted through a black mask.

" Fuck you!" Said Nagira dryly, aiming his own weapon at the person.

Like statues, the two stood there, neither one having an upper hand on the other... neither one moving a single muscle. It was a war of wills with guns drawn at the ready.

A crash of glass came from behind Nagira out of nowhere, and he moved to sidestep in reaction. A smaller figure had came through the window, a handgun clutched in each hand. He had avoided the second person by the smallest of margins, but found himself out numbered suddenly... and out gunned.

Nagira moved himself to have his back flat against the wall, wanting to protect himself the best he could, and kept a eye on both of the intruders the best that he could have.

The first figure cocked his weapon again, aiming it right at the tall lawyer's head..

" The girl..." The person yelled at Nagira, who noted the man's Japanese was tinged with a odd accent. " Where the fuck is the girl?"

The tall lawyer was going to spit out another swear again, but stopped as the one with the rifle pointed at him exploded in flames. He grinned with relief. Reenforcements had arrived down from the loft.

The rifleman screamed, as his body was consumed in the flames, flesh sluffing off like rain on a car windshield. He dropped his weapon, then fell to the ground as the fire lapped at him hungrily. The second intruder looked across the room., reacting to motion.

Robin was standing there dressed in her old biking black spandex body suit, legs planted firmly in a position of authority and defiance. Her shocking emerald eyes peered through the glasses she had on, glaring at the now lone gunman.

" Give up... I do not want to have to hurt you too..." Said the girl monotonly.

The smaller intruder squeezed off three shots right at Robin in reaction to her being there. The bullets vaporized only a few feet from the young girl, vanishing as if they had never been fired, much to the surprise of the person. A gasp came out of the person, the guns still pointed one at Robin, and the other at Nagira

Robin glared at the person who was also fully clad in black from head down, her green eyes were locked on to the gaze that came out of the eye holes in the mask that obscured the face. No fear were in the girl's gaze.

The figure hesitated for a second, staring at the girl for the longest few moments, not knowing just what to do. Abruptly, the figure threw itself out of the window where it had entered from head first, leaving the smoldering carcass of his or her partner behind, choosing flight over a fight.

Robin flinched, then hurried to the window to spot the whereabouts of the intruder was. The figure had already disappeared into the shadows of the late afternoon, leaving no trace of even what direction the person had gone in.

" I can't see whoever it was out there anymore..." She said softly, turning to look at Nagira.

The man had already joined her at the window, his gun still clenched in one hand. He surveyed the outside of his building, and also could not find hide nor hair of their intruder in view.

" Who were they?" Asked Robin, regarding the man with a long look.

" Frankly, I don't know." He said, his eyes looking down in front of the windowsill. " But this might help..."

The man bent down and picked something up off the floor, and held whatever it was up to show Robin. The girl stared at the object, her mind slow in clicking on exactly what it was that had been left behind.

A single running shoe was clutched in Nagira's hand when he straightened up. It was a off-white color with small accents of pink over it's surface. By the looks of the shoe, it was a very small size which seemed very small in Nagira's large hand

" A woman's shoe?" Asked Robin.

Nagira looked at the footwear in his hand and nodded.

" We have a very expensive women's shoe at that." He said with a nod, tossing it on to his desk. " This particular pair costs more than what the average worker gets in almost a year of work. A designer brand."

Robin glanced over at the shoe that now laid on the desk, her mind already working on another question.

"Solomon Agents?" Was Robin's first thought, and which she verbalized.

Nagira looked at the single shoe for a moment, then shook his head.

" Unlikely it was anyone from them." The man snuffed. " As I remember, they wear paratrooper type boots, not runners or expensive shoes like these two were."

" Then who?"

Nagira went over to the now motionless body that was now charred on his floor, leaving the girl hanging with her question. It seemed like he was having the exact same question running through his mind.

He knelt down and examined the body very closely, nose wrinkling from the sickening smell of burnt flesh that now rose into the air.

" He's beyond toasted here..." He said, frowning a little. " Looking at his features to see who he was is not an option now. The flames had totally obliterated any chance of a visual description now." He looked at the footwear the body had, and then at the weapon it had been brandishing... now partially melted into a metal sludge on the floor. " These are expensive Gucci shoes he is wearing, these would set people back nearly a year's wage here. The gun is American made, ones not allowed into the country either... Could explain the accent I heard in his voice... but it did not seem to be either.."

" I... Don't understand, Nagira..." She said. " Was he a foreigner?"

Nagira looked up at the girl, then took one last look at the body.

" Join the club, Kid." Snorted the man, standing up. " This is beginning to make as much sense as a flying pig."

The girl looked at the blackened remains of the man, then squarely at her friend. She seemed to be very confused at this point, her green eyes pleading for any sort of explanation of the past few days. Nagira seemed to be understanding things as much as she was, as he moved to stand beside the girl.

" We should move you to that save place I was telling you about... I need to get a hold of someone before we get the hell out of here."

" Who? " She asked, watching the man retrieve his cell phone from the desk.

He shot her a very phlegmatic look, one that was reminiscent of the looks that Amon would give her when she would query him.

" You will be seeing the who very soon..." He muttered in quick response, obviously not wanting to say too much to the girl. " Hope to hell that I am reading something into this right..."

Robin gave him a long questioning glance, so he would consider explaining a little more than he was. He did not continue but gave her a gentle nudge on the small of her back with a hand.

" Go gather your other clothes you have... let's get you the hell out of here!" Was all he said. " It is already apparent that my office is unsafe." He looked down at the body on the floor. " Very unsafe for either on of us right now."

Robin looked at Nagira, a little upset at his lack of wanting to tell her things, but still she hurried off to do as she was asked. The man was already talking to someone on his cell, speaking so low that she could not hear what was being said.

She paused a second at the door. She looked back and sighed. She could feel that the man might know a little more than he had let on he did the night before. It was a strong feeling of that which stuck in her gut, but Robin knew the man quite well... he would not hid that fact, unless he was unsure of the details he was withholding from her. He was always like that since they met.

She just sighed, and went up top the loft, assuring herself that the man would tell more, once he knew things properly. That helped the situation for her.


	5. Chapter 5 Rustic Nerves

**Chapter Five- Rustic nerves**

Nagira's car drove straight out of the city after making a quick stop at a store for a bag of food and drinks and three cartons of cigarettes with it also, going south. They left behind the city, still in the hold of the night, as it crept towards when it would be light again.

Nagira was silent as he drove, grimly watching the road illuminated in the headlights as he puffed away on a cigarette. He had said nothing after leaving his offices, after phoning someone to 'deal' with the burnt body of the intruder. Robin had heard, and felt a little bad for whoever he had charged with that grisly task.

The road was almost deserted, as the older sports car powered through the darkness, heading for wherever the man was taking the both of them.

Robin sat in the passenger seat, watching the darkened countryside go by the window. She would look over at the man beside her, and seemed to fight herself not to ask anything of the man. She had asked a few times as they were driving away from the law office, but the man had not answered her in any way. He had seemed not to want to talk, as he bore her away from the metropolis behinds the car.

She rubbed her hands together a little, finding the car a little chilly. She passed it off as the after effects of what had transpired with the two that had attacked Nagira and herself, or it probably was another symptom of being so tired after a month on the run. Either way, she found the chill beginning to creep into ever part of her body, and even pulling her coat a little tighter around herself seemed not to work.

Keeping her eyes on the darkness, She did not say a word, but tried to keep her mind off the coldness by watching the lights of approaching cars as they neared then passed, heading into the city rather than what they were doing.

After a very long drive, and as the sky was just hinting at the return of the daytime, they turned off of the main highway and headed up a long dirt road that seemed to not have been used in a very long time. The path seemed to be partially overrun with wild weeds and grasses, as sure sign of unuse.

Robin was curious all over again, but knew that she needed to be patient just a little longer. She truly trusted Nagira fully, enough that she was putting everything in his hands now, so she just let it be for now. He always seemed to have a plan that would work, and she had to let him do it regardless of all of the unknowns that came with it.

In the headlights as they turned a gentle bend ion the road, she now could make out a small house tucked in a grouping of trees. It was unlit inside, the exterior and the porch that was on it seemed odd in the lights that the car threw off.

The car stopped right there and Nagira lit a smoke almost in sync with the motor dying off.

" Being way out here, we should be safe for awhile..." He commented almost nonchalantly.

" Where are we?" She asked, looking at the small house, while her ears picked up the sounds of water lapping against a shore not very far from where she stood.

The man got a far away look in his eyes, as he looked at the small structure still lit up in the lights. He sighed and finally took a long look at the girl.

" We go in, and I will explain that." He said, stepping out of the vehicle.

Robin nodded and followed the man's lead. She was unsure of things still, but the peacefulness that she found herself in made her more calm that she had been since they had left Tokyo. They entered the house almost together.

The interior of the house was very tiny inside. The outside had looked quite small, but it was now truly a very small place. Robin was actually very interested in the little structure, as it seemed to be very quaint despite the cramped feel as she looked around.

The main area was a front room and kitchen area combined. It had all of the modern amenities, but the stove and other appliances seemed to be from a time twenty years past. Even the furniture was from that time period, but that was what made it seem very delightful nonetheless.

The girl saw some added in walls that seemed to make a second room off to the side, making the place seem a little more close feeling than it already did. Wrinkling her nose a little, the girl then noted a small toilet and a shower was built into a closet type of room near the entrance of the second room, tucked into the wall at the back..

Nagira snuffed, as he walked in and put the bag of food on the table in the half kitchen, after flicking on a light switch with his elbow.

" Let's try and make ourselves at home her the best we can, Robin" He said.

" Just where is here, Nagira?" She asked.

The man smiled a little.

" This is the cabin that Amon and I came to a few times with our father." He said. " No one knows of this place... even the small town a few kilometers from here, only a few older people know of this cabins existence. Right after his mother's death, our father thought it was best for it to stay this way.

She looked around the place, regarding the place that once had both Amon and Nagira staying here so long ago.

" Is that why you picked it? The isolation we have out here?"

" It was... a factor." He said. " It was also the only logical place I could come up with, until we figure things out."

Robin looked at her half way rustic surroundings a little, and smiled a little. She thought it was not really that bad of a place to hid out in. She turned back to her friend.

" And what about this 'someone' you had hinted about..." She said plainly. " How does this person help us?"

Nagira snuffed. And give a wide grin

" You are a little more impatient than what you use to be... but I guess after what has happened in the last day, guess your entitled." He paused, regarding the young gal with a small smirk of interest. " The person will be here by nightfall today."

Robin waited for more of a explanation to come her way. When the silence was more than a few seconds, she concluded that she was not going to get one right away. Just like his brother, he seemed to not want to let go of what he knew until he thought it was the right time. She was a little miffed about that, but knew that saying anything would probably not change things any.

The man opened a can of coke they had brought and took a long pull from it.. He put the drink down and looked at the girl.

" Go get some sleep, we are safe here." He stated. " You have the bedroom, I will sack out on the couch in here."

Wanting answers, but now starting to feel too tired to press for anything else, she nodded and gathered up her meager things and headed into the bedroom while Nagira stayed where he was.

The room's door was just a simple sliding drape, though it was thankfully made with rather thick material. She slid the partition closed, found the switch for the light and looked at just where she was going to be calling home for the next undetermined amount of time.

The room was really small, possibly just eleven feet squared with no window. A double western styled bed was just beside the door, the drab colored blankets making it seemed a little doubtful of it's comfort for her. Looking over the room a little more, she saw the room only had a chair and a dark painted dresser in it, a bare bulb hanging in the center of the room was the only source of light.

It was a rather stark little room she found herself having. With no pictures or anything adorning the egg shell colored walls, the simple drabness actually went along with the rest of the cabin to a tee. She stood there for a few more seconds, looking at the room.

Robin shrugged and settled on the fact that it was her's for now. She always had been not one to complain about anything as she had been brought up in almost the exact sort of decor in the church, but felt a little uneasy about this. It was not about the room, she thought to herself, but there was that prevalent feeling that she could not shake.

She threw back the covers on the bed, and saw the mattress was a fairly good one, and newer than the other things that furnished the cabin. She poked the bed with one finger, and found that it was soft and plush, as the mattress rebounded nicely. Perhaps she had made a assumption a little too quickly about the place, she thought to herself.

She stowed away the small suitcase that contained the biking outfit, and the few other things just under the bed, reminding herself it would be faster to run off if needed to. That was her reality, and for now that what it would be for her.

Yawning, she simply shucked off her clothes and slipped into the bed., hoping that the answers to her many questions would finally appear. She wriggled a little, feeling the sheets were actually quite nice against her skin. She layed for only a moment, then drifted off to sleep, her exhaustion larger than what she had first thought.

Nagira stayed up and watched the sun rise out of the front window of the cabin with the gun sitting close to him on the couch. The breaking of the colors in the sky was breathtaking, yet it did not make the man sit there in wonder, his mind was far too deep in contemplation to enjoy natures pallet..

He had switched from the cola to having a can of beer, one of a few he had picked up with the food he had purchased back in the city. He seemed not even tired at this point, his sitting position showing that his senses were on high alert. He took a swig of his brew and tried to stay focused as the morning broke.

He listened to the sounds that came to his ear of the constant breathing from the other room, making him feel a little more at ease that the girl was asleep. He had hoped that she would get some sleep, and his heart was happy that she had done that.

Nagira snuffed and took a longer pull of the beer, wincing as it had became a little warmer than he liked it to have been. He stood up and walked over to the small kitchen table to grab himself a smoke from his pack, feeling a little restless now.

He was startled by a vibration on his hip, nearly letting his cigarette slip out of his mouth in the process. He quickly whipped his cellphone off of his belt and answered it quickly, as if already knowing who it was that would be phoning him so early.

He listened intently, and spoke quite sparingly to whoever it was on the other end as he eyed his car parked in front of the house. He was on the phone for over three minutes, his full attention on the conversation.

The tall man finally closed the flipping part of the phone and held the device in his hand, as he returned to the couch. The man's body seemed to relax a little now, as he took a drag off his smoke.

He looked at his wristwatch and nodded.

" Four hours or so..." He muttered to himself, as he picked up his nearly empty can of beer. " That was quick..."

It seemed that the warmth of the beverage was not as undesirable as it had been only a few minutes ago. He smiled as he leaned back and leisurely partook of his smoke.


	6. Chapter 6 A plate of Spagetti

**Chapter Six- A plate of Spaghetti**

The slamming of a car door woke Robin up with a start, piercing her dreamless sleep. She rocketed straight up to a sitting position and blinked wildly, clearing her mind from the fog of her slumber as she glanced around the dimness of the small room..

Sitting there with her slight bewilderment, she could hear voices outside the cabin, but could not distinguish who they were for a few moments. She was sure that one was Nagira, but there was another male voice with his, the unknown person's tone made her feel as if she knew the person for some reason.

Robin threw herself out of bed, grabbing her clothes in one smooth motion and hurriedly began to get dressed, shivering in the coolness the room held this morning.

As she dressed, she was very certain of one thing in particular, that this could be the person that Nagira had been eluding too, and she was curious to finally get some of the answers that she had waited on from the man. It had been a hard few days, she felt like she deserved it.

She exited the room in just a few minutes, and looked around the cabin's main room, still rubbing her eyes to clear away the last remnants of her sleep. She found the room was dim and very still.

There was no one inside, just more than a few empty cans and a very full ashtray of cigarette butts on the table beside the couch. She frowned a little in finding the mess that was made, but she would deal with that later. She stood there, and listened for the voices so as to be directed to wherever they were.

Almost immediately, she could hear that the voices were coming from just outside of the cabin itself. Setting herself with a small clearing of her throat, Robin smoothly walked to the door, and out into the bright light of the day.

She first caught sight of Nagira, leaning up against a post that was holding up the porch overhang, his usual lit smoke dangling from his lips. The second person had his back to the girl, hands idly stuffed in the pockets of his black pants and a large brimmed hat covering what appeared to be wisps of grey hair. Robin took a step forward towards the two, unsure of things for the moment.

The stranger seemed to had heard her almost inaudible footsteps, and turned smoothly to face Robin as she neared. The girl suddenly stopped her forward motion, the face of the stranger became clear to her.

Robin let out a sharp gasp, as the face of the stranger was all too known to her. It had been not very long since seeing the man in front of her, back in Raven Flat a few months now past.

" G... Grandfather?" She sputtered softly, her green eyes trembling at the sight of the man.

The man took off his hat and smiled at the girl. There stood Father Juliano in all of his glory. He seemed a little tired as he looked at her, but his broad smile on his face showed his great joy at seeing her.

" It is good to know you are still alive, My child." He said, his steel grey eyes glowing with every word he said.

Robin rushed over and began to kneel down, reading to kiss the ring of the man as was the norm in meeting such an esteemed member of the church He stopped her before she could and held both arms out.

" Forgot that, Child..." He said, grinning warmly . " I would rather have a hug from you."

She smiled and did so, wrapping her arms around the man tightly. He reciprocated with a full embrace of his own.

" I thought you were dead for a time..." He whispered happily. " I am glad that assumption was wrong."

They broke from one another, and looked at each other. Father Juliano looked deep into her eyes, and saw the mind behind the green eyes to be swirling around.

" I see you have many questions for me, child..." He said softly.

" I do..." She agreed.

Nagira smirked with happiness.

" Shall we go inside and have some coffee?" He suggested. " Your Grandfather here needs to explain things to even me."

" Explain things?" Echoed the girl, a little confused.

The Priest nodded and regarded the girl with a now serious look.

" I have information for the both of you, plus I need to ask you something that is extremely serious in nature..." He began. " I have gone over it for many hours that I spent on the airplane getting to Japan."

The three collectively went into the little cabin, as the sun shone down brilliantly in it's duties of warming the land.

Over cups of steaming coffee, the three sat down as one, each showing various emotions that spun around in them like tidal pools. For a few moments, no one spoke, seemingly not sure quite how to bridge to speaking.

Father Juliano finally was the one that spoke.

" The hunt that is on of the both of you is and is not from SOLOMON." He said, bluntly, straight to the matter.

" That is fucked!" Said Nagira, getting a visual rebuke from Robin for swearing.

The priest nodded, not even flinching on the vulgarity that had just been spewed so effortlessly by the tall man. Robin had shot a glare at Nagira with his little swear, seemingly uneasy with it.

" After the fall of the Factory, SOLOMON wanted to gather up the information that had been collected by Zaizen to be used like it was ever again, for our actions were wrong in the matter... but upon combing through the rubble, we found that the computer back up records were gone."

" Gone?" Queried Nagira. " What information was specifically missing?"

The priest spent no time on thinking, but answered the man.

" The information on the manufacture and use of the ORBO made by Zaizen and his team was not there, the computer data had been downloaded from all hard drives." He said. " It was very clear right from the start... Most of those records were gone."

Robin thought on the information for a moment. The news that the secret of ORBO was out there somewhere was disturbing.

" Who could have gotten that information, when the whole place had crashed down?" She asked. " It was destroyed, I survived it... Amon gave his life for it's destruction."

The man's brow furrowed deeply, his tone when he finally spoke was one that was flat and angered a little.

" The head of SOLOMON, called the Table of Five, wanted to make sure that the research done there were never used again for the evil that Zaizen wanted it to be used for... but all of the data and other things that should have been there in what was left of the factory was gone."

" How?" Asked Robin.

" Survivors of the collapse... and probably backed up in other computers." Said Juliano.

" Then what about the attacks on us..." Interjected Nagira. " We both have been hounded. How does all of this come down on us... especially Robin here?"

" That is where your troubles have come in to play, Dearest Robin." Said the Priest.

He shifted in his seat, to look right at the young girl beside him. The look on his face was grim and serious, making Robin feel that what was coming next, from him... would change her life forever.

" A fractured party of SOLOMON, who has been trying to take over and use the influence to totally wipe out any Witches, or possible seeds, seemed to have gotten the information out of the rubble because they were secretly in partnership with the late Zaizen- they had been funneling millions of Yen into his warped dreams secretly from SOLOMON headquarters coffers all over the world." He said. " They call themselves the Sentinels of White- They are a zealous Fringe factions of SOLOMON who want to rid the world of Witches they perceive as threats, while building to be a force in most of the world politically as well. They saw Zaizen as a means to an end to what they wanted, but you and Amon saw to that end."

" You mean like taking over the world?" Piped in Nagira, his eyes squinting a little. " These weirdos are doing a Adolf Hitler thing?"

The look on Father Juliano's face was telling of how right Nagira was at that moment.

" Politically, yes, they are wanting SOLOMON under their soul control as well... they want a pure race of their warped sense of God, and they mean to use the ORBO to kill some Witches, manipulate some of them into helping them get more power politically and then deal with them as they would deal with other witches." He took a breath.

" They are the ones that have ordered the Hunt on Robin, Not this Table of Five?" Nagira asked.

" I am on the Table of five... that is a absolute no...This faction figured out that Robin was alive, deeming her a threat being that she was found out as the 'Eve of Witches', and they want her genetically perfected body to make pure ORBO that could possibly even mass kill humans as well as the ones with the powers.. or dead if they could not attain that" He said, adding. " Either way, they could be selling that information and your 'perfect' ORBO to the highest bidder."

Nagira leaned in to the older gentleman, his steeled eyes locked on to the man of the cloth's.

" One thing before you go on, My friend..." Said the man bluntly. " How did you know about Robin being alive?"

" We did find bodies of the workers of the Factory, and came across Amon's remains... but we could not find Robin's in the destruction, nor any DNA their of either." He plainly said. " That suggested to others, and to us on the head of SOLOMON, that she was still alive."

" That is how they figured out I was alive... they knew what other SOLOMON people found?" Whispered Robin. " Amon saved me, and that was the sign to you that I was alive?"

" You are correct." The father said. " They were infiltrating the main body of our organization, and working with Zaizen, all in the midst of the ORBO tempest... now they want to continue on to use that knowledge."

Robin sat staring at the floor, trying to digest what was being told to her. She snuffed lightly and looked up at her grandfather.

" You said you had a question for us..." She said. " What would that be, Grandfather?"

Juliano nodded.

" We have found out that there is a second factory already up and running somewhere in Japan, and being run by someone who knew fully of Zaizen's plans...and now is using a stash of money he had hidden to continue this project."

" He had money hid?" The tall lawyer asked.

" Somewhere in the range of nearly one hundred million Yen, by what we could figure." Said the priest flatly. " They have that new factory, the money... it seems that a few scientists had gotten out of the first building's collapse somehow and is on the job somewhere- we have no idea where this factory is..."

" So what does that mean for your question, Grandfather?" Asked Robin.

The eldest man straighten in his chair, and looked at the girl with a softened look.

" We need you to help find where this Factory is, find out who is running it now and then help us destroy it, and all without them getting you to prove they could make that perfect ORBO..." He said. " There has been a few suspected Witches that have simply 'disappeared' in the last few days, and are suspected of being used to start up the ORBO project altogether."

" Me?" She gasped.

" You, my child... yes you...As the 'Eve', are the only choice we could see..." He said " I will make sure you have help in the form of your old colleagues at the STN-J. They are not involved in this, but they need to be... stopping out of control Witches are one thing, but these people of the White- are out to do much more evil than good."

The man stopped then, obviously going to wait for her answer to come back. She would look at her grandfather for a moment, then over at her friend's face too. She seemed not confused, but seemingly unsure of what to decide. She took a breath and looked back at her grandfather.

" What if I say no?" She whispered. " If I say no, will you be disappointed in me? Will you order the hunt for me too?"

" What if she does say no?" Said Nagira, obviously standing up for the young girl. " I would like to know that myself."

The man nodded.

" I will make sure she is quietly spirited out of the country, and safely protected under assumed name- probably in a country that is not under SOLOMON protection... a country like Australia or even Greece might be an idea." He said. " You know the importance that this is, and of who you are- your choice is yours alone, Robin. I will not force you to do anything you do not want to do...I love you no matter what."

Robin stood up and walked over to the window, as the others went silent. She looked out at the stillness of the lake front cabin that was bing warmed by the early sunlight she had found herself whisked away to, but her mind was too busy to enjoy it.

She gave a questioning glance at Nagira, her face showing the extent of the toughness of the decision she had been handed. She locked on to his eyes, and was trying to read what he might be thinking.

Nagira noticed the look that was capturing him.

" If you want, I will be right by your side if you do this." He half whispered looking at the priest for a second as he said it. " Can't let you have all the fun..."

" You... would do that?" Asked Robin softly.

" I have helped you this far, girl..." Said Nagira with a split ass grin. " I am here for the long haul."

" That would be fine with me... Mr. Sunji would be a asset, like he had been before." Was the only reply from Father Juliano.

Robin just stood there, her mind at work. What was right for her, the world, even for Nagira was flashing through her. She shook her head, this was not going to be easy to decide.

She folded her hands, sending a prayer up to the heaven's in asking for guidance.


	7. Chapter 7 Thin Air

**Chapter Seven - Thin air...**

Miho cautiously goes around the side of the overhead door, heading into the loading dock of a old warehouse that was on Tokyo's west end. Dusty and dark, she needed to proceed with the greatest caution she could muster up.

She was out at this late hour on a hunt. A Witch that had gone crazy when his powers awakened during a heated argument with his boss, the loading area supervisor for an import company. The man, Known as Yano Kantaki, had killed his boss and four others in a rage induces power explosion. Manipulating the specialized metals they had just brought it for master crafters of Metal, he had killed them with a shower of razor sharp shards, and then went about destroying different places inside the huge building.

This was the reason why the STN-J had been called out late this evening, as the police were very reluctant to engage this man, and his out of control powers. Miho and her partner Haruto were dispatched out, knowing little of the man other than he had killed, and killed without any hesitation... that made him very dangerous indeed.

With her high-caliber weapon held at the ready, she surveyed the darkened warehouse for any sign of the one they had been sent out to hunt.

" Michael..." She said into her intercom headset. " You have any reading on where the Witch is."

" No, Miss Karasuma..." Said the boys voice, seemingly very tight. " With all of the metals strewn around in that warehouse, I cannot get a lock on him."

" Can you see anything, Haruto?" She said, in hope that her partner could get something.

" Negative here..." Said Her partner. " I am over on the other loading dock, and I have seen nothing as yet."

Miho sighed, as this hunt had started off on the wrong foot already. She peered through the dimness, her eyes peeled for any sign of the Witch.

" Go to plan Delta... search every room of this warehouse complex, Haruto..." She said, making her decision known. " Michael... Get Dojima here... we need another body out here to protect our backsides."

"She is on her way to your location already, Miss Karasuma..." The youth informed. " Her ETA should be two minutes or so by the tracking I have on her at the moment."

" Make sure she comes in to the south loading doors... that way, we cut off his escape." She said, making sure that the plan does not go as bad as it had started to.

" Roger that..." Said Michael, then he disappeared from the airwaves.

The woman snuffed and headed deeper into the warehouse, appreciative for the night time floodlights that gave some light from overhead. She was glad that the pallets of metals were not too large or very high in height, giving the Witch less of a opportunity to make a sneak attack on them before they could do the same. It was some small comfort, in the midst of a Hunt that already was started out badly.

Miho moved smoothly, keeping her back against a far wall for some security in not being snuck up on. With a newly awakened witch that is out of control as the man obviously was, there was no such a thing as being too cautious. She had learned that lesson well under the odd leadership of Amon.

Taking a quick glance over, the woman could just make out the shadowy figure of Haruto on the other side of the large open area, doing the same thing. She smiled a little, happy that the young lad was being more careful than he usually was. She kept on moving, her eyes trying to pick out if the witch was still in this area.

A movement from a doorway leading into an office at the end of the area, made Miho tense almost instantly. She knew that it was not Haruto, and Dojima was going to come in from a different way... it had to be the witch that was lurking in the office- the police had said the place had been cleared other than the 'strange man', as they called him. She took a step closer to the wall, making herself as inconspicuous as she could, her finger resting lightly on the trigger of her weapon.

Miho caught a glint of a group of objects flying through the air, as the dim light hit them in flight. The woman pitched herself to the floor, knowing that she had not only been spotted, but the Witch had taken the upper hand. The man had caught the drop on the both of them.

She felt a burning pain shoot through her arm as she hit the ground, feeling more objects whizzing past her as she did. She gasped, as the pain was way more than she ever had felt before. She could see that a long sharp rod of metal protruded out from her upper arm like a arrow would have, her own blood was pouring from the rent.

" I'm Down..." She said, hearing more metal hitting concrete all around her. Then more of the same sounds came from the other side of the area.

The girl felt a chill of fear pass through her, as no answer from Haruto, and she was certain that Dojima had not arrived on scene as yet. She clamored up to her knees, as she saw a large hulking figure step out of the office and now was bathed in the light. She gasped, knowing that she was in just a little bit of a spot.

The man was huge, towering like a giant in the dim light like some sort of monster. The man's greying dark hair was very disheveled around his head, a wild look was plastered across his face. Sanity was not evident in his look.

The man's eyes were glowing with a red light, as the witch looked at her with a bloodthirsty smirk that would chill a person's soul.

" You die, whoever you are..." The man growled, as shards of scrap metal rose into the air from pallets only a few feet away from him, each had ragged and sharp points directed at the fallen woman.

Miho lifted the gun with her off hand from the floor where she lay. She was not very proficient with her weak hand for shooting, but she knew she had to try. She fired off a round, which missed by a few feet, and buried harmlessly in a wall behind him.

He laughed menacingly, as the woman looked at him.

" Die!" He said loudly.

The woman gasped, as the man looked at her. She could hear moans from a ways off, and just knew that it was Haruto that was probably injured as well. She struggled to get to her knees, but her right arm was now covered in blood down to her elbow and was unable to be moved even a little. With her left hand, she leveled the weapon the best that she could, trying to make a better shot than her first one was. Off balance because of her injury, that was nearly impossible to be doing.

" _Oh, Fucking Shit!!" _She thought to herself, knowing that she was now fully incapable of protecting herself.

Miho knew she had no chance to get away, and with her right arm now dangling beside her body uselessly, she could try and run off, but that seemed to be almost suicide as well. Weighing her options, she knew they were not plentiful, she squeezed off another shot, which also missed by a great amount.

A few more small shards of metal struck her, knocking her to the ground again as pain painted red in her mind. She felt her weapon clatter away from her into the darkness of a corner, as even more pain came from her injured arm, and now she found that her upper shoulder had also been hit. She tried to grope around with her good hand for the weapon, hoping to find it. She found nothing in reach and she realized that she was in one very sticky mess indeed.

The man took a step towards her, eyes locked on to her with the flashing of death in his glowing orbs. She turned her head and stiffened her body fully, waiting for the inevitable to come, already knowing that the metal around him was rising..

Through her closed eyes, she noted a bright flash of light that came through her eyelids, almost as if daylight had came inside the warehouse. It was a short burst, but it startled her. She looked up, wondering just why she was alive right then.

She saw there was a huge blobs of metal on the ground in front of her, as if all of the shards that were meant for her had simply melted away and fell to the floor. She tentatively looked up to see what had just happened to save her like this, noting a very horrid smell that was wafting to her senses. She gasped.

Miho saw the Witch was on the ground, laying very motionless as dancing flames seemed to be flickering and jumping all over his body. The flames seemed to have already consumed the man, leaving nothing more than an blackened and twisted husk of what had been the Witch. She blinked, wondering just how this had all came about... unsure of anything.

" The witch is down..." She said into the headset, letting herself sit flat on the dusty concrete. " ..I can't locate Haruto..."

" What happened there?" Questioned the voice of Michael.

" I... am not sure..." She blurted out.

A figure rushed to her from the shadows. She looked up and saw what appeared to be a young blond girl in a very old styled dress that had simply appeared. She gasped, her mind grasping who it was yet not wanting to believe what she was seeing.

" Robin?" She said.

The figure of a tawny haired girl was in fact the girl Named Robin. The woman could scarcely believe her eyes.

" Your... Alive?" Sputtered Miho.

" Robin?" Said Michael over the communication's line. " Did you say 'Robin'?"

The Tawny blonde girl nodded.

" I am..." Said the girl, helping Miho to her feet.

" Her death has been a little exaggerated, Don't you know..." Said a low but familiar voice.

" Nagira?" Miho asked, looking over and seeing the lanky Lawyer. " What are you doing here?"

" I believe it's called saving your pretty little ass..." Smirked the tall man, arriving beside Robin..

A older man in a priest's outfit came from the shadows, propping up a bleeding Haruto with a shoulder. The lad was hurt, but seemed to be more stunned than anything else. Miho recognized the older gentleman too, and shook her head

" I am assuming that you three will explain all of this for us." Miho said with a gasp.

" Young hunter... I will be explaining things... the two younger ones will have to fill you in on their parts after. " Father Juliano said.

" Your Father Juliano..." Said Miho, making sure of the man's identity.

The man nodded.

" I am."

" Your with SOLOMON, are you not?"

The Priest nodded, as he help a still very dazed Haruto over to where Miho now stood. He looked at the woman, and smiled a little

" Just call in the body team as usual, but do not tell them that we are here..." He said.

" How do we explain the burnt body?" Said Miho, still being professional. " And why do you want your SOLOMON men not knowing that you are here?"

Father Juliano was calm in the face of the question poised by the woman.

" Simply say it was an accident..." He said, pointing to a few shards of metal that had hit an electrical box, which the lady did not see flaming.

" Alright..." She said, confused at the deception. " But I have many questions for all of you."

" Me too..." Said Michael's voice, obviously overhearing everything that had been said so far.

The priest nodded, his face showing he was expecting that type of reaction from the Hunters. He had been expecting nothing less from the members of the STN-J.

" I know..." Was his only reply. " Just do that for us, Mr. Lee, and we will get these two some help in the meantime."

" Will do..." Said the digitized voice.

Dojima raced into the large area, her gun at the ready. Upon seeing the scene, with a very alive Robin standing there, along with Nagira and Father Juliano right there, she shook her head.

" What in the fuck?" She spat.

Miho held up her good hand as she was being escorted out to get her wounds tended to.

" There will be an explanation given..." She said to the blonde girl. " I have been assured of that..."

Dojima put away her weapon, but her face still showed her great confusion.

" I sure as hell hope so..." She sighed. " I feel totally confused..

" I agree..." Said Michael, his voice still sounding in a state of shock.

Robin propped Miho up, as Father Juliano kept doing the same for Haruto.

" We need to get the both of you medical attention." She said in a calming voice.

Miho just nodded, bit was still had that look of surprise in her eyes.

" I can't believe your alive..." She said. " I thought you and Amon had died in the Factory's destruction."

Robin's face went grim.

" Amon did die that night..." She whispered with a lilt of deep sadness. " I am alive because of him."

Miho's face went grim as well, hearing the news. She looked at the girl that was helping her out.

" To the hospital then... I have to hear all of this stuff..." She said.

" That, My good lady... is a tale in its self." Nagira said from just behind her. " They might even write a lore about it..." The man said, with a tight chuckle.

" That is what I am expecting..." Said Miho.

As the group left the ware house, Dojima, Haruto and Miho kept looking at the other three that had simply popped back into their lives. It was almost like this all was so surreal, but the proof had appeared, and saved them from a very bad situation as well.

Each of the STN members were still in the state of shock of the basic facts: Robin was alive, Nagira had shown up and a high ranking SOLOMON member was with them. Nothing was truly adding up at the moment.

The explanation was going to be a very interesting one, each STN person thought.


	8. Chapter 8 Veiled Thoughts

**Chapter Eight - Veiled thoughts**

Nagira lays in a fairly large bed and stares up at the stark whiteness of the room where he was, obviously deeply thinking on the last few days that had passed. The sleep he was wanting to get, was not coming his way.

The room where he was in was one of two bedrooms that were located in the basement of Raven's Flat. He occupied one of them, and Robin was assigned the one next door to him. They had been given the rooms out of concern for their safety. After the attacks on the both of them, Nagira was more than happy to have a safe place to sleep, even though he was not asleep as of yet.

He just layed there quietly, thinking intently on the last few hours of this crazy day.

Father Juliano himself, had informed the others of the STN-J on just what was happening, and how he needed them on board with this. Both Nagira and Robin had also relayed all that had happened also, each painting the picture of what the situation was right now.

After the shock of finding out that Robin was alive, and the bigger shock of the factory still at work, despite Zaizen's demise. Everyone, even new Commissioner Kosaku got on board without so much as a second thought. This was good For Father Juliano and the other two, for they needed all the help they could to shut down this second factory.

That was the good news, the bad news was that everyone did not no where to start to close down this major threat.

Nagira sat up on the edge of the bed and began pulling on some clothes, lighting a smoke as he finished. He found that just laying there was not working at all, he wanted to move around to try and stay his restless mind, as he thought of how he might help locating this Factory, and stopping the attacks on Robin and his own lives.

He left his assigned room and stood in the hall, listening to the silence of the place. Before going to the elevator, he had stopped himself right at Robin's door and listened after a few seconds of hesitation on his part.

He could just make out the slow and steady breathing sounds from behind the portal, a sure sign that the girl was actually asleep right now. He allowed himself a small smile, happy that the girl was able to be getting some sleep finally. It had been a very long feeling few days even for him.

Nagira turned and headed to the elevator finally, trailing a plume of smoke from his cigarette far behind himself while listening to his one footsteps echo through the long corridor.

The stillness of the well area looked very inviting for someplace to think in quiet, thought Nagira. He sauntered in and took a seat on the concrete and stone side of the well, smelling the dampness that hung in the air.

The man looked around himself for awhile, mulling over different contacts he could trust and others that might turn up to be a potential for some very good information. He knew that digging into such things was dangerous, but because of the underground nature of how he gt his information, it could possibly will get something on the Factory, and whom ever ran it now.

Nagira peripheral vision suddenly caught a movement at the far end of the area. He snapped his head over in the direction as the movement was getting closer to where he was sitting..

From the shadowy profile his eyes had caught sight of, he already had predicted the identity of the person that was there. He grinned and snuffed while he took a long drag from his smoke.

" You have a habit of popping up places from nowhere, Father Juliano?" He called out.

The Priest came fully out of the shadows, giving a low chuckle of amusement as he moved across the stone floor..

" Are you always this observant, even in the dead of night?" The man asked.

" After being chased, shot at by witches and my not-so-clean past up to now... No!" Drawled Nagira.

The Priest nodded, and took a seat beside the man as smoothly as a man half his age would.

" You are sitting here and pondering over the mission you find yourself embroiled in, are you not?" He asked

Nagira nodded, that was not too hard for anyone involved to figure out.

" I am..." Said the man, curious of what the man was even doing here at this time of the night. " Going over some things I could do to scrounge up some information to even find this new Factory..."

" It will be not easy, my son...especially with these rouge SOLOMON people..." Said the clergyman, starting his words with a sigh. " Yet, it seems that God himself has charged all of us with this job."

" No it won't be easy..." Drawled the taller of the two men with a long sigh of his own. "Hope that Michael can come up with things in the mean time.

" This team is as resourceful, as they are loyal." Was the statement made by the Priest, his one hand fidgeting on his knee ever so slightly.

Looking over, Nagira had this odd sense that the man was not there just to be taking up space. It appeared that the Priest had a lot more on his mind than just the fact that the factory was still going to some degree.

" Your not here for the decor of this well, Father..." He said lowly, lowering his hand with the smoke in it. " I hate trying to beat around the bushes here... Spit out what you're here to say."

The priest turned his head, and nodded. He recognized that Nagira was one never to beat around the bush.

" Aside from the mission you are now involved in... I need to ask you a question." He said.

" A question?" Asked Nagira with one eyebrow lifted.

" Yes... one question, my son." Nodded the man.

" Fire away, Padre..." He said, wishing that the man would be more direct than what he was being at that moment.

The clergyman seemed a little hesitant in some way, as if having something very large that weighed on his mind.

" Can I ask you what is your relationship is with my Granddaughter?" He asked flatly.

The tall man was not expecting a question like that to come from the man, and he felt himself feeling tongue tied for a heartbeat. He sighed, as he thought of the answer for only a second.

" I am very fond of her..." He finally answered. " Ever since meeting her, I have come to admire her. She is one amazing young girl, I gotta say."

" Is that all?" Came back the Priest. " I feel that your heart holds more than just that for Robin."

Nagira snapped his head around to fully face the man. He had no idea what to say to that statement. The innuendo was now facing him squarely, and his mind had no idea just how to respond to this.

" You lover her, Mr. Syunji...You love Robin!" Was the man's next statement, not letting Nagira reply right off. " I can see that as clearly as I can see God's love is for all of us."

Nagira took a drag off his smoke as his hand shook a little. His mind raced as it processed the words of the older man. He shook his head, as a plume of grey smoke exited his lips.

" I admit that I do have a love for her... But I think you have misjudged the kind of love I have for Robin."

The Preacher man did not even bat an eye, but regarded the man with such a calming gaze, a gaze that was also filled with intensity.

" My eyes see what people don't say... I guess it is part of the Priest job description." Said the man, undaunted. " I see the love you have so clearly, your heart cannot hid what is the truth."

Nagira nearly choked on a drag of his cigarette, as the man seemed to be totally telling him this without any fluster.

" She is sixteen, Father, Sixteen years old..." Sputtered Nagira. " I am already in my thirties here... you have got it wrong."

The priest looked at the man, a small smile came across his wether beaten features.

" My dear Mr. Syunji... My eyes are completely seeing what you are hiding from your own self it seems..." He said softly, his soft grey blue eyes holding Nagira's stare. " I caught you listening at her door earlier..." He said with poignancy. " It was ever so very clear. The respect of not opening the door, the smile of relief of when you heard her sleeping soundly inside and the constant support you have been exhibiting towards her... Those are the things that tell me all of that...I am not blind to that...'

" She is a child still..." He said with a snuff of utter appall. " And that is your own granddaughter you are talkin' about their, Pops..." He shook his head. " It is a preposterous notion, to say the least. I can't believe you just accused me of being in love with her..."

" Is it?" Directed the man, looking right into Nagira's face.

Father Juliano stood up and turned to face the man.

" That is my Granddaughter, and yes, the age differences is a very large one... Morally I should be against it... I find myself not in that position. I see what is right in God's eyes..."

" What?" He was still trying to make sense of this thing that the priest was talking about.

Without so much of a pause, Father Juliano kept on speaking.

" What I am trying to say, Sir... I see your love for her is strong and pure, even though you have not even let yourself see that..." He said. " I also see what is behind Robin's bright green eyes towards you... her young age has not let her see that either, but her heart is seemingly teaching her that what is hidden from her as well."

Nagira stood up and glared at the man. He felt a tightness through out his chest, as his mind circled with the words that had just been spoke to him.

" I think that your cassock is on just a bit too tight I think..." Growled the man as he stared at him. " Telling me I love Robin is one thing... but thinking that Robin is in love with me?"

" I see that this has upset you some..." Said the man slowly. " But you don't seem to have the words to deflect my insight, Nagira."

" Telling me that I am in love with a child is upsetting." Snapped Nagira, feeling his anger welling up in himself. He was not believing what was being said to him. " How did you ever come up with the fact that I am in love with Robin, and that she also feels like that towards me?"

" You and I both know that Robin is far beyond herself in years, Mr. Nagira." Said the Priest. " My commitment to God is based upon love, my job is about love also ... I have seen that look in many people's eyes many times before, and I will probably will see it many times more."

With a stern grimace, Nagira turned and stormed off. Quickly, he left the room without a word more to the man.

" _That man is fuckin' crazy..."_ His mind said to him with venom, but he found himself fighting even that thought deep inside. _" Me... in love with Robin? That is more than just a little crazy... that is fuckin' nutty."_

Father Juliano watched the man stomp out of the room, but he also said no more. He took a deep breath in and stood up.

" I beg thee for help with this one, Lord..." He whispered to the stillness. " This is usually not right to even contemplate, but you set love, not I or anyone here on earth."

The man looked up to the heavens for a second, then disappeared back into the shadows he had been occupying as his mind prayed on.


	9. Chapter 9 Tokyo streets have ears

**Chapter Nine - Tokyo streets have ears**

Robin opened her eyes hesitantly, and saw nothing but the dark small room where she was as she awoke from sleep. Her mind reminded her that she was not sleeping in a hotel or anything, but she was still in the darkened basement bowels of Raven's Flat. The past few days now streaming through her memory.

Shifting herself off and on as she layed there, feeling the un-giving hard mattress under herself. Robin did not have to ponder the reasons behind herself being awake, she was feeling very uncomfortable in the bed she had been assigned the evening before. She took a glance over at the clock on a small table beside her bed, and found it was just coming up to four in the morning. She groaned at the realization and shook her head.

She rolled herself completely over on the rock hard mattress, hoping that she could get back to sleep again when she could find that elusive comfortable position. The sheets on the bed were not very soft against her bare skin, and that was just adding to her sleepless frustration on this night, her being awake right now was making her mind to begin to work overtime on everything.

She thought through the last few months of her life, and noted just how much she had been through in that time. She began to think on Amon for awhile, and automatically felt a very strong pang in her heart return, the pang of loss that she had been having ever since that fateful day of the stoic man's death at the Factory, and saving her life in the process. She felt herself shutter a little, as her strong emotions rocked her.

Trying to get rid of the emotion, Young Robin began to think about Nagira then, and found the image of the man's smirking face to be comforting to her heart. She felt herself giggle, as she thought on the man that had hid her when she had to hide from the factory and her own STN people.

Nagira was very kind hearted under that really rough exterior he projected, he was so much different than his brother ever was. She found that just on thinking about the man made her feel better, the pangs of her loss softened and was replaced by a more calm one.. Nagira really did have a special place in her heart after everything that had happened, yet it was a place she was quite unsure of just how deep that feeling she had really went. She had found herself thinking about the tall man more than once over the last day or so.

Now that she was feeling more at ease once again, Robin closed her eyes and wrapped herself tighter into the bedcovers, trying to simply will her sleep to return. She layed there and listened to the silence as she waited.

Twenty minutes went by, and Robin still could not fall back asleep. She rubbed her face as she sat up, the cool air of the room making her bared shoulder immediately have goose-bumps over her ivory skin. She felt herself shivering uncontrollably, realizing just how cool it was way down in the very bowels of STN headquarters. The quiet was now getting to her.

Robin layed herself back down to cover herself better with the sheets, hoping that would help her a little in her quest for a few more hours of sleep. Bt how her body was feeling at the moment, she would have welcomed ten more minutes, if she had to.

As she layed there trying to silence her roving mind, she heard the unmistakable sound of a cellphone going off in the room next to hers. She knew that was where Nagira was staying in, and found herself wondering who it might be that would be phoning the man so late.

The girl layed very still and listened for a few seconds, bit could only manage to hear the man murmuring lowly a little. She tried to listen harder, but the man's voice was very unintelligible to even begin to see what the call was about through the thickness of the wall between them. By the tone of how Nagira was speaking, it struck her as the call was a very important one, but that was all she could figure out..

She sighed and gave up on her eavesdropping try and closed her eyes, as her elusive sleep felt like it was finally returning to her. She wriggled herself deeper into the blankets and simply waited to see if it would finally come over her.

As she drifted back off into slumber, she barely realized that she could hear Nagira moving around in the room next to hers.

Michael was sitting at his computer as usual, as a tall figure came on to the floor. He looked up with a start, as at this late of night, he was not expecting anyone coming in to the place.

He saw it was Nagira, looking very tired, who had came out of the elevator. Michael noted a peculiar look that was in the man's eyes, it was almost like looking into Amon's eyes once again. He shuttered, as it had been only awhile since Amon was lost to them.

The lad settled himself, and peered over his lightly tinted glasses.

" Can't sleep?" Asked the lad, eyeing the man as he neared his workstation.

" Cant afford to sleep right now..." Cryptically responded the man, looking right at the spiky haired lad.

The man seemed to not want to say very much else than that, as he lit a smoke. Taking a long pull of the cigarette, the man then returned his gaze to Michael.

" I have to go out for awhile, Kid..." He said very flatly, obviously choosing his words. " Keep an eye on Robin until I come back."

" Where are you going at this time of night, Nagira? Should I alert some of the others?"

" None of your business to know where I go, Kid." Answered the man sharply, his face showing no real hint to Michael's questions. " Just look after the girl for me- I won't be that long."

" Uh, sure..." Said the youth, hearing the tone the man used at him.

The man turned with out another word, heading back to the elevator, trailing a huge plume of grey smoke in his wake. He entered the lift, and waited for the doors to hiss closed.

Michael watched the man exit, and gave a snuff to himself. The youth had already noticed just how the man's long coat sat on his thin shoulders, and also was more than aware of the way it had swung as he walked. Michael had automatically surmised that the man was packing one hell of a gun under there. Where ever the tall slip of a man was going this late at night, it was not for a plesant rendezvous

Michael just turned back to his work, figuring out leads for Father Juliano and the others, knowing that they needed anything fast. What ever Nagira was up to, he was a big enough boy to take care of himself, he told his mind.

Twenty minutes later, found Nagira standing out on a dark street in the very middle of Tokyo's more seedier areas of the city. He seemed to be so very calm, yet his eyes constantly were moving to look through the shadowy gloom of a very empty street as the only light was from a streetlamp down the block. He took a drag from his smoke as she waited, obviously it was for someone.

A dark clad figure slunk out of a very run down tenement house near Nagira and made it's way straight to where the Lawyer was. With a dirty grey cloth cap pulled low on its head and the collar of the coat pulled up, the only thing that was assured was that it was a man that was approaching. The person moved quickly to get to the side of the waiting man, the body positioning was one of nervous tension.

The man looked at Nagira for a moment, eyeing him, then shifting his eyes around nervously. He nodded a greeting, to which Nagira grunted low in his chest

" You got some type of information for me?" Said Nagira shortly, dispensing with any pleasantries to the man.

" I do!" The man said in a very gravelly voice. " remember my payment for all of this I bring."

" Information first, then the payment if I find it worthwhile." Warned Nagira.

The man took a quick glance around, surveying the dark street for a moment, then turned back to Nagira.

" Word out there is that people... some say they are witches.. Are disappearing from homes, businesses and other places."

" Disappearing?" Nagira repeated. " What do you mean that people are disappearing?"

The man rubbed his nose, as the piercing eyes of Nagira was squarely planted on his shadowed face.

" The word out there says that they are being kidnaped by people dressed in silver suits." The man continued. " The people are also followed by a tall, very slim figured woman, who wears a veil and carries a very big gun... and it seems like she is the head honcho when it happens."

" And these people are taken then just vanish like that?"

" Stuffed into a very large armored truck and drives off..." The man informs. " The people seemed to be dead, or knocked out when they are placed in the vehicle and they drive off very fast."

" Do your people happen to know where these witches are being taken to?"

The man shook his head at Nagira's question.

" No!" Was the man's answer, an answer that was sharp and clear. " The vehicle speeds off, and seems to simply vanish before anyone can help."

Nagira handed the man a large wad of money, who quickly snatches it from the hand and stuffs it into his coat pocket. The shady fellow then nodded and began to walk off, seemingly finished his task with Nagira. The whole encounter had taken on a scant few minutes.

After a few steps, Nagira's informant stopped and turned back to the Lawyer.

" One more thing that you might or might not need to know, Mr. Sunji..." He said. " My people have had a strange man, who has been asking about the same things that you are seeking."

" Another person wanting the same shit?" Said the taller man, his interest peeked.

" Yes! About that factory, and about people who were some of the ones taken by those suited people.

" Who is this person?" Nagira asked.

The man took a look over his shoulder, then turned back. He shrugged.

" We don't know who this dude is or anything... he always stands in the shadows and talks low... that is all." He takes a pause, as his fidgety nature needed to have another look around. " This dude pays a lot of money for the same information as you, then is gone as fast as he appears."

" You don't have any clue to who this man is? Not even a description for me to go on." Asked Nagira, getting frustrated.

" They never see him clearly... ever!" The man said, turning. " He gets his information all around in the walled city, pays with a heck of a lot of cash. No one ever has figured out who he is and why he wanted it, but his money talks louder than our curiosity."

Nagira snuffed, as the extra info made his curious in some way. He thought on the information for a second, making the man stay right where he was.

" If this man ever contacts your people again, you make them tail this dude for who he is and just what he wants with this information" He said, sternly. " I need to know just who this fucker is."

" It will cost you for that little 'service'..." Smirked the informant, showing very yellowed teeth.

" You know that I will pay you very well for this..." Said Nagira, being instantly irritated with the man's greed. " Have I not always payed you handsomely for all of the information... providing that it is true and accurate?"

The man nodded, obviously reading the man's displeasure with him. He turned quickly and raced off without another glance back at Nagira,. He was off like a cockroach trying to hide from bright light. In a blink of an eye, the informant had melted back into the cesspool that he had crawled out of in the first place, gobbled up by the darkness of the street.

In a scant few seconds, the man disappeared into the darkness like a phantom. Nagira was left to try and figure out the information he had been given. He snuffed and headed towards his car that was parked around the corner from his spot.

He wondered as he left about the person that was asking on these thing, but just thought it might be just some other snitches trying to gather information to sell - that practice was not out of the norm in the dark world of the underground. Still, on hearing about all of this... still made him wonder about the strange man. Who could this be, if it was not snitches?

He also started to wonder if the woman he had been told about, was the same one that had tried to kill both Robin and himself back at his office. Was this the same lady that was heading up the capturing of Witches? This was an intriguing bend to this mission, and they were only just beginning.

He decided that all of this was more than what it seemed. There were so many questions already lined up, and so few answers to go with them. He shook his head and continued to his car for the time being. It always started out like this... he knew life would always never be simple.


	10. Chapter 10 A bouquet of questions

**Chapter Ten - A bouquet of questions**

Robin awoke the next morning, finding it a little confusing because she was in a basement room. She was disoriented a little bit, and looked at the clock that was next to the bed. She saw the red lit display was reading that it was just after seven. She had only fell back to sleep for a few hours, she told herself.

She groaned, feeling still tired and not really wanting to get herself up right then. With the bad night of sleep behind her, she wanted to get a few more hours of sleep... there was a problem though. Nature was calling her loud and clearly, and it was not likely that it would simply go away to let her sleep. She give a small groan as she threw back her blankets in starting to get herself up, knowing that her need to pee was outweighing the need to sleep.

As she padded across the room, shivering as the cool air hit her naked body, she was thinking that she was glad that this room had its own bathrooms built with them - that architectural style was really a rarity in Japan. She lightly rubbed her goose-bump covered arms as she hurried her bare feet, while hoping that the bathroom would be a little warmer than this room was.

She gathered her clothes on the way to the bathroom, deciding to shower and dress after reliving herself. Her mind now was awake enough to not only to stay up, but it was signaling that she was craving for a nice hot cup of coffee really soon. She giggled and went in to do her morning routine to the best of her situation. She wanted to hurry herself, as the simple thought of coffee was so wonderful.

Exactly twenty minutes had passed, since the girl had awoken. Robin was showered and fully dressed and stepping out of the elevator onto the fifth floor where the computer room was located. With her hair still more than a little damp yet, she had left it down for a change, opting to grab a coffee while giving time for her hair dry. Putting it up in her signature style at the moment, would not work until her mane of tawniness was completely dry.

She noted that Michael was sitting at his computer already, his fingers flying away on the keyboard as usual. She saw Miho was already into work, reading some sort of printout right next to the spiky haired youth. Commissioner Kosaku and her Grandfather was speaking lowly over in a corner and Haruto was sitting there, looking very bored at whatever the two were talking about as she passed on her way to get her coffee.

As she poured herself the first cup of the day that seemed to have been just freshly brewed, she was deeply thinking. She had not overlooked the fact that two of the people were unaccounted for out there in the work area. Dojima was one of them who was not among the people here, obviously she was still the one who was perennially late. Nagira on the other hand was still nowhere to be seen.

She remembered the sound of the cellphone ringing in the next room from the night before, and was wondering if that might be why the tall Lawyer was not among the people that were up at this early hour.

" _He could be sleeping still..."_ Her mind rationalized, but she still suspected that the phone thing she had heard was more of the reason why he was not here.

She took her coffee back into the main room to enjoy, and was hoping that someone from the others would tell her anything about Nagira's absence.

Robin quickly found herself being filled in by Michael about Nagira's absence, or the lack of his knowing just where Nagira had went off to early this morning. It frustrated the girl that the man had gone off like that, but she was resigned to the understanding that she would probably be filled in on whatever it was that made Nagira leave so quickly. Still, it did make her mind wonder on just what was so important... perhaps it was about whoever was trying to kill her or something to do with this new Factory.

Dojima finally showed up a little later, just as Robin had finished her first cup of coffee and had brought a second to go with her breakfast she had been handed. The woman looked completely tired, but a sly smirk was on her smooth face. Robin was intrigued.

Robin took a sip of her coffee while eyeing the slower than usually moving lady, noting that the hair was not as perfect as it usually was quaffed.

" You look like your very tired, Miss Dojima." She commented politely.

" I am so exhausted... but it was worth it." Dojima said, giving a impish sort of smile to Robin. " I had a date last night with a very hot guy, and I have not even home yet."

The young hunter raised her eyebrows at what the woman had just divulged, not ever expecting that sort of answer from the blonde woman. Robin automatically noted the very pretty outfit the woman was sporting, and just how much of a far cry from her normal work attire it really was.

The clinging off white silk camisole that was under the blazer did reveal a impressive amount of milky white cleavage that Robin thought Dojima did not even have. The lustrous material really did show off the roundness and the full ness of the woman's assets. The proof was right there of her endowment, and made the younger girl feel sort of uncomfortable with her realization of it. The skirt that she also had on, was really short and framed long lean legs, something the pious girl herself, would never have worn.

Dojima moved passed a quiet Robin, obvious that she was going to get herself a cup of the coffee too. As she passed on her way to the kitchenette, the light but very appealing bouquet of the woman perfume rose around the young hunter and tickled her nose. That suddenly had a affect on the young teen, her mind flashed to something that had seemed to be not there beforehand.

Her mind drifted back to the day when two armed people burst into Nagira's office to try and capture of kill both her and the tall man. It was something that she had not consciously noticed at the time what with the people and guns threatening them, but her mind now was hitting her with what she had smelled, even through the burning flesh of the man she had taken care of. She knew that it was the distinct fragrance of woman's perfume.

The scent she was thinking of was not even close to what Dojima's fragrance was today, But it really had jogged her memory. Thinking back a few days, the perfume she had remembered through the stench, she knew that it was one that she had smelled before. The question was where had she smelled it before.

The girl pondered her memory, and realized just how vivid it was. More than ever with each passing second, she was absolutely sure that exact cent of perfume, she had smelled it before. The assuredness of her own memory was so clear that she was more than just certain. Now the question now was how to bring out the where she had smelled it before that time... and with whom it was linked to. She was sure that it was someone, but she could not bring that little part out of herself.

Taking a long sip of her coffee, the youngest hunter pondered on her question, but was coming up empty. She could not link with who that scent belonged to, but something inside her nagged her mind..

Nagira finally arrived back at the STN-J, feeling tired and over thought. He exited the elevator on to the work area and headed to grab himself the coffee his nose had picked up on the air.

He suddenly stopped on seeing young Robin sitting off on her own, staring into her cup of coffee. Something about her caught his attention, other than her beauty he had been noticing more and more, but he was not sure. He was hesitant to think on the pretty young girl, but his instincts were telling him there was something in the girl's demeanor that he needed to investigate. With the little 'talk' Father Juliano and he had the other night still fresh in his mind, he started over to the girl.

He got to Robin's side without the girl even noting he was there. That was another sign of something going on in her pretty head.

" I will give you a penny for your thoughts..." He said softly, not wanting to startle her.

Robin looked up, her eyes showing that she came out of her thoughts.

" Your back." She said in reflex, oddly looking relieved.

" Just got back here now." The man smirked

She sighed, and looked at the man for a few moments, his heart feeling the bright greens on him.

" Where were you last night?" She bluntly inquired.

" I was called out by one of my informants on the streets." He replied smoothly. " Got some interesting information on the Factory thing, but this stuff seems to be leading right into out little predicament as well. You'll hear about it when I talk to your Commissioner and your Grandfather."

" Alright." Said Robin, her face still expressionless.

Nagira looked right into her eyes with a questioning stare, seeing that something was still rattling around in her mind.

" So... what makes you look like your pondering the meaning of life?" He said, trying to be humorous.

" It might be something... or nothing..." Plainly replied the girl. " I am not exactly sure yet..."

" Something or nothing?" Said back the man, his one eye squinting a little bit. " Girl, you are making no sense to me at all. C'mon... Start by telling me what it is, we just may clear this up."

Robin nodded. She took a deep breath and looked up at her taller friend. It was time to try and explain her thoughts.

" Perfume!"

" P...Perfume?" Asked Nagira, one eyebrow lifting as she tried to figure the girl's one word out.

The girl nodded.

" That day... when we fought those two in your office? I now am remember smelling perfume through the smell of the man after I used my power on him." She said, as straight ahead as she could. " I did not recognize it at the time, because I was trying to figure out what was going on, but I now am remembering clearly smelling a type of perfume."

" A man's scent or a woman's, Robin?" He inquired.

" It was clearly a woman's scent." She replied without a hitch.

Nagira paused and rubbed his chin. He seemed to be falling back to that day as well, in his own recollections.

" Well..." He said, thinking back on that event. " One of the gunmen was clearly a female." .

" You showed me the expensive running shoe you found under the window..." Robin reminded.

" What is it about this perfume you smelled?" He asked, curious why the memory had came to her. " Why has that piece come back to you like this, Girl?"

Robin looked right at the man, her face was a mask of total seriousness as she began to speak with a strong tone.

" The smell I remember is one that I knew from sometime before, from somewhere."

" You know the scent?" Asked Nagira. " Do you know what type it was, or what it was like?"

" Don't know what it is called... but I know that I have smelled that exact same one before." Thought the girl. " It is a perfume that I think I have smelled often, it seemed like that, yet I can't place on who..."

" But you probably have smelled so many perfumes and colognes since coming to Japan..." Cautiously said the man. "How do you know if this certain smell might be something of significance?"

Robin did not change in her demeanor in any way, but locked even straighter onto Nagira's questioning look.

" It is one I seem to have been subjected to up close..." She said so straightly to the man. " When I was living in Italy... I never wore any womanly scents, they were not permitted in the monastery where I lived, and I really don't wear it much even now... that is why I think that the smell stood out for me."

Nagira thought on Robin's words for a second, trying to decide how he could coax the girl to match up what she had smelled to whoever it was.

" Do you know who's scent this is then, who it belonged to... is that why it has jumped out at you?" Asked Nagira, thinking that this just may lead to the assassin woman's identity.

Robin sadly shook her head in reply.

" I do not know... or at least I have not remembered who had wore that particular perfume... or even if I actually know the person." The girl said, almost like she was asking herself as she explained.

" Was it recent? Was it more in the past?" He helped, wanting a little more to go on. " Start with it like that..."

The girl looked a little overwhelmed at the moment.

" I am sorry, Nagira..." Said Robin, seeing the strain she was putting herself under. " I don't know right now."

" Then all you can do is try..." He smiled, he looked at the pretty face of Robin, and found it hard to push a little for her to think faster

" I am." Robin agreed, feeling like she was stuck.

Nagira nodded and snuffed, not letting himself get frustrated with the young girl and her remembrances. He knew through his years of being a lawyer, you could not pull out these things out of the air- as much as he would have loved to open her head and pull it out. Letting Robin have the time to think it over and then connect things together on her own, was his only option he had. open.

His instincts told him that if he could be patient awhile longer, this might be another part to all of this. It seemed like it, just like the information he had gathered in the dead of the night. He sighed and found that to be the only way for now.

" Come so you can hear what I have to report..." He said, as the girl stood from her chair.

" Is it good news? Do we have something to go with?" She excitedly asked Nagira.

Nagira shrugged, feeling her hope ooze out.

" I think I know where this information might be going... and I believe it will end up helping..." He started, as he lit a smoke for himself with a silver lighter.. " I am not completely sure about it value though... that is why I am going to bounce it off of the Commissioner and your Grandfather."

" Sounds like you are fairly sure..." She smiled.

" Then lets both just keep trying..." He said. " It could very well keep us alive, and stop this shit."

Robin nodded, and followed the man to where Commissioner Kosaku and her Grandfather was. She wanted to here just what Nagira had dug up for herself on his early morning excursion. With in her own mind, she kept on thinking about the perfume and of the attack on herself. The latter had never left anyways.


	11. Chapter 11 Clues under the hidden moon

**Chapter Eleven - Clues under the hidden moon**

Night fell onto the sprawling metropolis of Tokyo. The night had brought it's other side of life to bare, the underbelly of Japanese society was now released from it's hiding places in the shadows. The new world only will be there for a few hours, until the returning sunlight makes the world once more, different.

It was still pretty early, just past a little after ten thirty, but the night life was jumping in the back alleys and side roads of the area that was near the walled city called the Down. That was wear the tall and very mysterious Nagira was now out an about.

He was walking up the street, his hands tucked loosely into his coat pockets as he went along. The tall man passed two vagrants that were arguing over something in a brown bag, chuckling at the spewing swearing that came from both, then his mind quickly and efficiently forgot them both.

Nagira was clearly uninterested in neither the vagrants or the bag they loudly scuffled over, he was on a mission this no moon night. His destination was a meeting with one of his other informants out on the streets at a illegal betting parlor that was located at the far end of this dank and pointless nowhere street.

As he neared the middle of the block, he suddenly found himself having a strange feeling coming from off to his right hand side. He shifted his eyes without turning his head, his senses on alert. It was as if he was being followed and watched form the shadows of the alleyways that turned off around this place. He kept on going, but his ears strained for sounds, his eyes for movements.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the unmistakable movement of someone from a back alley. Nagira instantly knew that it was a person, as no animal moved like how a human would. By the way it slunk along to follow, it was clear that a person was stalking him, and they were doing it really well, he had to admit. His hand instinctually gripped the handle of his weapon just in case, which was the reason for him walking with his hands in his coat.

The form seemed to be moving with him with the uncanny smoothness and the ready stealth of a cat, keeping itself almost perfectly shrouded in the hollow darkness of the nocturnal time. He smiled to himself, with almost a type of anticipation..

" _Well, well...Nagira..."_ His mind said suspiciously top himself. _" I think I have myself a fan following me..."_

He picked up the pace of his walking, and noted that the form was following in step. The more he sped up a little, it followed almost identically nearly perfectly camouflaged by the night that Nagira even had a hard time keeping track of this person.

Nagira grudgingly had noted that whoever this was, was very good, but was thankful that his own years of experience overshadowed the person that trailed him. Now was the time to deal with his little 'shadow' He made a quick plan, wanting to know just who this was, and why he was following him in the first place.

It could be more people from SOLOMON or the other faction that was out for her as well or even it could be another separate part of this underworld things. Nagira already was expecting almost anything at this point. Nothing would surprise him at this point, but he knew that he could not get complacent even a little..

Regardless of who his 'friend' was that stalked him from the darkness, it did not matter either way what the alliances would be, he simply needed to know just the who and the why in this situation. Without having that, he was being put into a very tight situation, and it could end up jeopardizing the safety of the pretty young hunter he had sworn to help out, or costing many people's lives as well.

As he neared where his plan was going to take effect, he suddenly heard the person going away from him suddenly. In a flash, the person that was shadowing him was gone, and without Nagira even finding out who it was. This was not how the 'game' was played.

He wondered why the follower had broke it of, and kept on alert for if this was a new trick or something. He waled around for awhile longer... but it was clear. Whoever had been following him, was gone.

Still suspicious, but assured of now one else watching him at the time, he hurried to the betting parlor. He still needed to go where he was going.

The place was a converted old sewing factory, the company had been out of business for almost twenty years. Now it was a betting parlor, run by a local group, tired of paying crap to the Japanese mob. It was still illegal, but who ran it was a nicer gang... relatively speaking.

As he sat down at a large slot machine to draw attention away from himself, a small but very dumpy man stood near him. Nagira noticed the very sweaty looking man right off, a subtle smirk of mirth came over his face

The man Nagira noticed was dressed in a cheap collared Hawaiian shirt and many thickly made gold chains hanging from his chubby neck. He could not help but think how much of a living and breathing throwback to the stereotypical lounge lizards of the early seventies this man was. With obviously very thinning black hair slicked back and sporting a gold tooth in the front of his mouth, this dumpy man seemed to be a usual sort of person to say the least... but he really did fit in well with the seediness of the place to a tee. This was the man Nagira had headed out into the night to meet.

The short man walked passed for a second, then stopped to lean closer into Nagira.

" We have seen this man again... just like Koto had told ya." He said in a low volume voice.

" You followed him, as I asked... I hope?" Nagira mumbled, putting in a coin to play the slot while ignoring the man very vial smelling breath.

" We did... twice... but he slipped us both times." Said the man, almost seemingly not wanting to report it.

Nagira grunted loudly, his hand tensing and hitting the spin button hard with a finger. After the little incident while getting here, he was in no mood to play any games with this fat man.

" I thought you were all the best out here?" He snorted. " I am willing to pay good for your services, not for you handing me your incompetence."

" A thousand pardons to you, Mr. Nagira... we are the best... but this man you talk on is as elusive as a ghost." Sputtered the man. " We had him surrounded so any one of us could follow him, but he slipped away somehow from all of us, and we did not pick up his trail anywhere when we checked the area."

" If you are the best... you would not have lost him." Nagira said with anger in his eyes.

The man seemed to be a little nervous, but how he had said what he did, rang with truth. Nagira had delt with this particular crew for a very long time. No one could be truly trusted when it came to dealing with the dark underbelly of Tokyo, but these men were the closest that he could have gotten, and he knew that. That made him realize, this man must be a pro at tailing, and not being tailed

Nagira sighed.

" If you see him again, contact me and keep a eye on him the best you can until I can get there."

" Yes Mr. Nagira..." The man said, seemingly relieved at the outcome. " We will do that for you, sir."

Nagira lit a cigarette and took a drag. He paused, as the man obviously was waiting to be payed for the service.

" One more thing..." He said

" Anything, Sir."

The tall lawyer held the smoke in his hand, as he half regarded them man out of the corner of his eye.

" Any more things on the people taking witches off the streets, or about this woman everyone is describing?" He asked.

" Most people are assured that it is a group called SOLOMON." He said, seemingly having a understanding of who the organization was. " Others think it is some vigilante group."

" And you?" He asked, already knowing that it could be SOLOMON, but was not about to set all that he knew out there for this rodent of a man.

" I say it is evil... who ever these people are." The man said, visually scared to even talk about it. " The word out there is that an entire family has simply vanished only hours ago from inside the Walled City."

Nagira snuffed as if he was interested slightly, but his gut tightened as he waited for more of what the man had to say. His instincts had kicked in to high gear with that little morsel of information

" A family?" He echoed.

" Yes." Was the firm reply.

The man looked at Nagira, and saw that he was wanting more to come out of what he knew. The man took a glance around and leaned close to the very tall man's ear as he sat in front of him.

" A Mother, farther and a girl...They were all puled from their home by a group in silver clothing and stuffed into a very large armored car styled truck... just like others had." He said.. " I have obtained only the name of the family. They sir name was Yoshida."

" Are you saying that is all you have, or is that all you are willing to say?" Sternly asked the tall Lawyer, hoping to shake out other pieces of information for the sweaty lump of a man.

" It ain't like that, Mr. Nagira..." The man said, the man's grasp on the language was for from stellar.

" Then... what is the truth here?"

The man shifted nervously on his feet, obviously reacting to Nagira becoming more and more frustrated with him.

" I have personally not seen it happen, I am only repeating what I was told..." The man drawled, looking at the man. " You would have to ask the one who actually saw it go down to get the whole story that I only heard..."

Nagira blinked, as he was pleasantly surprised that it was perhaps possible he could meet up with whoever it was that had seen it.

" You can tell me who had actually saw these people that dragged this family away?"

" I can't give the name of the person, Mr. Nagira...but I could bring my source you real soon... I think that this person would tell you face to face" He said, nodding. " I will phone you the when and where."

" Make that sooner than later thought... right?" Nagira said in warning, wanting this meeting to be as quick as he could..

" I'll bring the person to see you see... later today..." The man said, nodding his head frantically with each word.

" You better." Warned the lawyer again, knowing he really had to play hardball to do this. " Tell this person straight out that I will be paying extremely well anything that I can find out... as long as that anything given to me will be the entire truth and every piece of it was given to me.."

The small fat man nodded, looking at Nagira. He knew, that whatever the tall lawyer said, would be exactly that. Nagira handed over some money to the dumpy little person and did not saw another word. The man promptly had the cash in hand in and then vanished with it in a instant.

After dealing with all of these street contacts of his, Nagira was glad that this thing was over for the time, noting that the man was already gone off. The little fat man may have been gon, but there was the after effects of having such types of information... knowing the right thing to do with it was the biggest one, and the unknown that would quickly follow it.

The tall man stood from his slot machine and hurriedly left the parlor, armed with a family name that has seemed to have been snatched and had disappeared from existence by the Factory. The Yoshida's just may be his clue to find that something bigger. He knew exactly what needed to be done, and done quickly, and lollygagging around this skid row den of dirt was not the way to do it

Nagira had to take this family's name and run it through the computers databanks back at the STN-J base. This was really one of those pieces of information that could finally get this little mission he found himself a part of going somewhere.. or at least he could have what he needed to prove or disprove to everyone that was involved. It did seem like this was the Factory's work after all

Back out of the parlor and out on to the smog clogged night, Nagira headed to his car as his mind was set on the task at hand. He looked at the barren street that was in front of him now, seeing that even the vagrants were gone from this pit of despair and depravity. He snuffed and began to walk off, thinking to himself just how this scene was more than befitting the description of being the bowels of the city.

As he rounded the corner, his ears picked up a faint sound from right behind him. He immediately suspected that whoever it was, it was the one that had been following him earlier on. His had in his pocket already so he was very quick to grasp his gun handle, but it ended up not being quick enough though.

His mind suddenly exploded with a array of colors in one gigantic flash, his vision became foggy and everything seemed to be turning topsy-turvy. A great stabbing pain on the back of his head followed for a instant or two, just before his whole world soon went blank. The last thing he saw, was a pair of very large boots.


	12. Chapter 12 A cog missing

**Chapter Twelve - A cog missing**

Michael looked up from his computer and gave a little frown to himself, the silence that hung in the room was disturbing him somewhat. He felt oddly restless, radically different from his usual layed back behavior. He could not help but look up high at a large clock that hung on the wall next to the full window. Reading where the hands were pointing at, it read that it was passing nine in the evening.

His face turned grim looking, as he seemed to be almost dwelling on the clock. He did not once take his eyes off of the clock for quite awhile, intently watching the second hand make it's way around the off white colored face as it counted off each moment. He seemed absorbed by the time passing his gaze, but it was not out of fascination that he sat there and watched. There was a foreboding reason for it

Miho was sitting off to one side of the room, quietly she had been working on her computer for some time. The woman happened to glance over at the lad, and saw that Michael was sitting there and almost staring a hole right through the clock.

The woman tightened her lips, as she watched the computer lad's expression change a little bit as he watched the clock with almost a unblinking stare. She sighed, as she could read the expression that was there.

" Are you wondering the same thing as I am?" She asked, breaking the stillness..

Michael snuffed slightly as he seemed to have broke the trance he had been in.

" If you mean that I am starting to really wonder where Nagira is..." He slowly started, his eyes moving from the timepiece on the wall and going in the direction of the one who spoke to him.

" That has been where I have been... were you?"

" That would be a yes." He said, his face void of any fluctuation in it. " I would be lying if I said no..."

The woman nodded. It seemed that she was waiting for those words to come from the technological youth. She absently smoothed her hair as she locked her eyes onto Michael.

" It's been almost a full day since he has left..." She pointed out. " You must be curious..."

" He could be tracking down some information..." Michael speculated, averting his gaze to his monitor. " Something that we might be needing..."

" He is... such a free spirit..." She said back. " He does things by his rule book, not by anyone else's way... not even by how we do things. Maybe your right."

" I am sure that he is just out there, gathering up every piece of information he could dredge up..." The lad put in.

" But you are not totally convinced either... right?" Questioned the pretty dark haired hunter-woman. " You think he has simply taken off or something like that?"

The computer whiz paused, and took a long breath of air into his lungs. He facial expression show that he was already disagreeing with her.

" Not a chance in hell!!" The youth replied, after a few seconds of pondering over Miho's questioning tone. " Nagira would never leave Robin in a lurch like this... No damned way!"

" Then... Are you thinking that he might be in some sort of trouble?" She said, dropping her previous thought.

" That is not out of the realm of possibility." Michael said, his admission was hard for him, judging by his face. " I have tried his cell phone on more than just a few times...no answer, and now it is going straight to voice mail." Michael said, his flatten words coming out with a great effort. He paused and wet his lips a little. " Has Robin asked you where Nagira is yet."

Miho shook her head in answer.

" She has not asked me anything about Nagira directly... but I can see that look in her eyes... she has been asking herself the same thing as we are... Where is Nagira." She sighed, and rubbed her bloodshot looking eyes.. " Hell, even I have been wondering where that man has gone to."

As the two spoke, the became aware of a figure in the room. They turned to see that it was Father Juliano who had joined them. By his own face, the man had heard the conversation.

" I too... am worried about Nagira..." He said, taking a few steps closer to the two. " And for my Granddaughter as well. With all that has gone on, losing Nagira would be hard on her and this mission might hit a snag that we cannot leap over.."

" We are as well..." Miho agreed.

" What do we do then?" Michael asked the priest. " I can access only certain things on this computer... Nagira is not one of them."

Father Juliano stood there, his mind processing the youth's very straightforward question for a moment.

" Unfortunately we have to wait for Mr. Nagira to come back and hopefully have some information as well for us..." He said. " While we wait, all we can do is keep Robin safe and go along to the best of our abilities..."

" We don't even know where he went for this information." The spiky haired lad said.

" Precisely why we have to simply sit and wait... as hard as that may be to do." Wisely said the clergyman.

" And what if we end up finding out that something has ended up going very wrong?" Michael said, his voice volume was very soft.

The priest looked at the two, knowing full well that was a very appropriate thing to be asked about. He thought on the question for a second, knowing an answer was needed.

" That will have to wait until we are confronted by such things, I am afraid." The priest replied with great wisdom, then added. " If something has happened to Nagira when he had gone for the information... we are still going to be needed to be able to go on to find the factory at all costs. The ramifications if we don't finish this and allow the Factory to become completely operational again, that would end up costing so many lives and shifting the very fabric of world politics and assuring the very ending of our own lives in that circumstances."

Michael nodded, then had a huge smile slide onto his face. The others noted the suddenness of the youth change, and gave each a very questioning look to the lad.

" What is it?" Asked Miho who was now excited, knowing that look was a look of pure inspiration

" I just thought of the Master at Harry's. He might be able to get some information on who Nagira was going to meet... he has gotten us tips like that before." Posed the lad, his smile now very large.

" Oh... I never thought of him..." Said Miho, grasping the young man's idea.

" Harry's?" Asked Father Juliano, not knowing what the youth was suggesting. " Who is this Harry?"

Michael chuckled, realizing the Priest would have no idea about the relationship that the STN-J and the owner of _Harry's_ had going. He turned to the old priest so as to face hi.

" This man has been a friend the STN, of Amon's and had been very close to Robin. He owns a restaurant near here, and has helped us out on quite a few hunts over the years..." The whiz kid explained. " The reason I thought of him was other than Nagira and Amon... he always was the one that could dig up a whole lot of information for us in a very short amount of time."

" Would this Master help us find Nagira?" Juliano asked, then added. " Could he help us with finding the Factory as well?".

" I am sure that Master help out with that as well." Michael said without hesitating. " In fact, having him also helping, that would help out with both of our problems." He smiled, looking glad that he had thought of it. " If we hurried... we could be there and back in about twenty minutes."

" Would Robin be safe here to be left alone for even that short of a time?" Miho asked, her mind always thinking..

Michael looked at the lady, and smiled

" She is probably already has been asleep for awhile by now..." Said a very confident Michael. " As long as we don't stay very long with Master, we could be certain that she would be safe."

" She would be safe..." Juliano vouched with his own confidence. " She can take care of herself, if need be."

" Then I say lets do it... It's better than just sitting here and waiting." Pointed out the youth.

The priest smiled. It seemed like he was agreeing with the plan, after hearing all of the background information.

" It is a very sound suggestion." He smiled. " You lead on, My son."

" Lets just go and head back real quickly then... Master might be out ticket to finding Nagira."

Quickly, the three left Raven's Flat and hurried down the block to _where Harry's_ was. The three of them knew at this might have been a heck of long shot to take, but each one knew it was necessary to try it. With Nagira disappearing like this, they needed all of the help they could get..

By the light of a single small lamp, Robin sat in her bed reading a large book that was propped up on her knees. She had gone off to bed rather early this evening to try and read for awhile, as the pressure of waiting for any sign of the missing Nagira was rising to the point of almost being too much to bare.

Even as she sat there in the quiet dimness, How Robin was reading that book was the ruler by how she actually was coping with it all. Clearly the tawny haired girl's mind was in anyway close to being fully fixed on the book, it was clearly still solidly locked on her missing friend.

Even tough no one was actually saying it, everyone at the STN-J seemed to be concerned with the fact that Nagira had not came back from his little errand. It was painted on everyone's face that he had not even called yet.

That much of concern by everyone made it very crystal clear, for the stubbornly independent but always reliable Nagira would never just disappear like this. He had always stuck at Robin's side... that alone was seen a huge clue that something was very wrong... He would have never just up and left, that was not his style

Nagira was on her mind while she tried to read, his image captured like a snapshot and now held in her mind's eye. She tried not to think on it, or about the growing concern that was building inside of her. Fear of some type of harm had befallen the man battled her thoughts, what had happened to Amon was fueling her worrying. Her very own imagination was now running excessively wild at that moment, despite the printed words in front of her..reading was not quite working to distract herself.

Trying to clear her worrying out of her thoughts for awhile, she turned her head to the side to distract herself, but it did not help as she stared off. Her gaze went to the time on the digital clock beside her bed, it was coming up to nearly twenty four hours since the lanky man had left on his little mission.

The girl put her book down on the bed beside her and closed her eyes to try and calm everything down. She found herself becoming more than just very worried, her heart could not stop her thinking about the man. She sat up more in the bed, her mind churning hard on the last time she had seen Nagira.

With the little information they had, the others had began to search for where the new Factory was, and also try to establish just who the fringe SOLOMON people are that were building it back.

At this point, there was no real clues to anyone involved, or just who exactly was actually the person in charge of The Factory and it's apparent resurgence in the continuing development of the ORBO. They all had started to explore each scrap of clues in order to locate the rebuilt dream of Zaizen's. Nagira was the one who had put out so many feelers for this information out on to the streets and back roads of the underground, and was seemingly getting responses back from his queries.

Now with Nagira gone, missing or worse, it was throwing the entire investigation into a downward spiral. Luckily, Robin had found out in a very roundabout way where Nagira had gone off to meet with his informant. The girl had overheard Nagira when she had passed the well room and he had been talking on his cell with whoever this person was. She had overheard that the place was a gaming parlor that was located on some skid row street near the Walled City, and the place was called simply the _Albatross_.

She knew nothing more than that, but she was now clearly focusing on what she had heard. Robin knew that she should have told someone exactly what she knew, but she had not. Robin was confused by just why she had not done that in the first place. It was like something inside of her did not want to share the knowledge, even though logically it was the right thing to do.

Sitting herself up in bed again, she continued to debate with herself for a long time on whether she should tel someone or not.

Robin then thought on someone she never had considered before. It was clear now that she needed to be telling the whole thing to the one person she knew and trusted the most, her Grandfather. Knowing that with his experience and the long time that he had been with SOLOMON, he would know just what to do with what she knew.

It was a no brainer to decide on that course of action. Robin got herself out of bed quickly and dressed herself. She was wanting to do this before her mind would backtrack again and stop her from saying. She kept reminding herself, that this was the only way to find out just what had happened to her friend.

Leaving her temporary bedroom, the young hunter girl went on her own mission as she hurried to find her grandfather.

The main computer room was oddly quiet when she exited the elevator. To her surprise, she found that there was no one in the room. Even predictable Michael, who was usually glued to his computer, was not at his workstation. With just the silence to greet her, it made her a little frantic when she was standing there.

Not finding any of her fellow hunters around, Robin hurriedly searched the rest of the building in a few short minutes, only to still ending up finding absolutely nobody there. She was now starting to think that she was fully alone in the building, and that no one had even left her a message to explain things

She tried to calmly tell herself that they could not too far away, and they would return. She felt like she did not have the time to wait around to tell anyone what she knew, time was an enemy for Nagira.

" _I can't just sit here..." _She thought to herself. _" Nagira... he might be in trouble or hurt... I cant just stay here to wait!"_

Making a decision, Robin felt that she had to do something, and quickly. Heading down to the basement, where the parking garage was, she was hoping to find out if they still kept her beloved Vespa to use. With no time to spare, she had to get down to that part of town... and to see if she could find Nagira. She hoped that they had kept her little vehicle, and that it still was working

The garage had not changed one little bit since she had last been there. Dank and drab with the unnerving echo that sent chills up Robin's back, it always had been her least favorite place to be in the STN-J headquarters. She took a look around the parkade for the Vespa, noting as she did that she found that both Miss. Karasuma's and Miss. Dojima's cars were still parked there.

Beside a concrete pillar just a few yards from the elevator, the girl spotted her beloved Vespa which was parked in the shadows. She smiled on seeing the tiny Scooter, very glad that it was still being kept there after all of the time that had passed by. She hurried herself across the cold concrete floor and over to where it sat, running like if the Vespa was some kind of long lost friend.

In checking the Vespa over, the girl could not help but break a relieved smile. She discovered that the Vespa looked to be in great shape, but it also had three quarters of a tank of fuel left and her keys still dangled out of the ignition. Taking a deep breath, she said a small prayer of thanks for this little blessing.

Donning her helmet that she found was hanging off of the right handlebar, she mounted her motor scooter and fired it up. She could not help but feel ever more grateful than she already had been feeling, as the small thing had smoothly came to life and now was gently vibrating under her. She listened to the engin for a moment, and could hear that it had been taken well care of even though she was thought to be dead.

Within a sixty seconds of starting the little engin, Robin had drove out of the parking garage and headed out on the main road that would lead her into the very heart of Tokyo itself. Her destination was the desolate slum area that skirted the fringes of the Walled City itself, her self- made mission was having the chance of finding the tall thin man Called Nagira Syunji.

She knew the area from forays with Amon when they had been hunting Witches in the area in question, and had the barest clue on where this _Albatross_ was. She was certain that she had to follow it.

She knew that this idea of hers was a very bold and very stupid all at the same time but it seemed to be the thing to be doing. Through the doubt and nerves she had as she sped down the road to that part of the city, she could only tell herself that Nagira just might not have very much time left... the fear was that she could already be too late.


	13. Chapter 13 What do shadows hold?

**Chapter Thirteen - What do shadows hold?**

A hazy but disorienting bright white light was what brought Nagira out of his blackness and started to regain his senses. He suddenly felt the back of his head was throbbing madly with a great amount of pain, as his eyesight slowly made it's way back to being normal. He groaned as the world was painful to come back to.

He was quick to become aware that he was in some sort of room, laying on what felt to be like hard bare wood.. The man shifted his body to try and move a little, but found that his body was not quite wanting to respond his brain's signals. He noted as he finally did start to move a little, that he was not even tied up or shackled in any way, as he remembered being bushwhacked on the street by an unknown attacker.

Stubbornly, The dark haired man pushed himself up with a great effort, finding that just behind where he had been laying, was a plain egg shell colored wall that had many dark and unknown stains on it surface. He grunted and kept on trying to get himself off of the floor he now realized that he occupied.

He sat himself up slowly and propped himself against the wall, finding that his whole body was feeling pain and stiffness with every moment his head cleared. He groaned again as he started to check around himself, trying to assess everything as his mind was finally able to think more clearly..

" This is worse than a Sake fueled hangover..." He commented to himself as he touched the large lump that he had on his head and wincing, adding with his own brand of humor. " I'd rather feel this way because of Sake."

The room he now found himself in was a very small and equally sleazy looking hotel room. He knew right off that these were the types of hotel rooms that were often than not rented by people for a day who usually had little or no money, or by some hookers that were applying the oldest trade of mankind for their livelihood. By the look of the room, this place was even low by hooker's standards.

The room had something that could barely be called a bed off to one side, a nightstand that was no better than a card table and a sink that jutted out of the wall. That was the only things that could have been called furnishings, other then the cheap looking drapes which seemed to have not been cleaned in a very long time. The room itself reeked of old cigars, urine that mixed with the quite unpleasant foulness of human sweat which seemed to seep from the walls, floors and the bed. Even bare bulb which was the only source of light for the room, was very unclean looking.

Nagira grunted his disgust he was experiencing, as this hotel room made the flea bag place that he found Robin was staying in look like the a grand four star Hilton hotel. He had been in many bad hotels and motels over the years, but this hotel had to be the worst that he had ever seen or even heard of.

He moved to try and get himself to his feet, and felt something heavy shift in his coat pocket. The man looked down and eyed his coat, he was more than a little surprised with feeling that considering he had been knocked out and taken to this wretched place.

He jammed his hand in and felt around in the pocket of his coat. He was shocked to find that his gun, his wallet and his pack of nearly empty smokes were still in his coat and completely untouched. He found that to be a very big surprise, one that just did not make any real sense to his street smart mind.

" Who ever whacked me on the fucking head and hauled me here, did not do a very good job of securing me..." He commented with a mutter to the empty room. He stopped, as his suspicious mind came up with a theory. " Or is this some sort of fucking set-up for me?"

He turned to look at the dilapidated bed and he spotted something that was laying on the rough looking grey blanket, next to a use-to-have-been white pillow. He squinted from his vantage point to see just what the thing was curiously, as he was trying to take in everything he could so as to figure out the why he was here and the who ever that had unceremoniously 'invited' him.

On the bed, he could see that it was a large bottle of imported American whiskey laying there. Two glass tumblers and a handmade ceramic ashtray with a unopened pack of his favorite brand of cigarettes set inside were also right there, along side of the bottle of spirits. Nagira was not quite sure why all of this stuff was just left there like that, and presumably left for him. Yet there it all was.

He shook his head, wondering if the person who had conked him on the head, might have jarred something loose. The whiskey and everything else stayed.

" What the fuck?" He muttered lowly, as this was getting even more confusing than it already was. It was like a very bad episode of 'The Twilight Zone', only more bizarre he decided. " This is truly fucked!"

The man struggled a little harder and got to his feet finally. Surprisingly he found that he was almost perfectly stable when he stood straight and tested the feel of his legs. He was still very stiff and sore everywhere on his body, but he rationalized that being able to stand up under his own power was a far greater option than when he had been incapacitated and sprawled out on the floor.

It took only a very few steps to cross the small room, and he was quickly able to grasp the doorknob that led to the only way out of this flea trap of a room. He found that the door was not even locked or barred in any way, escape was going to be easier than he had been thinking a moment before.

Nagira slowly opened the door just a crack and peered out into the dinginess of the hallway. Even the hall that was past the door, was exactly the same squalor as the room that he had found himself in was. He smiled, as it seemed like he was a captive in only the loosest of terms. Slipping away would be more than a breeze.

Nagira went to leave, and return to the streets outside and to his fact finding foray, but then he stopped. Inexplicably, Nagira closed the door back up and turned back to the dirtiness of the room he was about to leave. He seemed to have set his jaw with determination, which also showed a small glimmer of anger with it.

" _No! I'm going to stay right here..." _He told himself, his face showing stern with determination. _" I should wait for my 'host' to come back to the room. I have a few questions for whoever this is right now. I will be polite and wait for him, since the bastard took all of this trouble to bring me here to his little abode."_

He went over to the bed and picked up the bottle in his hand. He looked at the whisky bottle and snuffed, recognizing that the bottle he had been left with was worth way more than what a regular Japanese worker made in over a month with overtime pay. He shook his head and looked at the bottle for a little longer, his mind pondering on it for a long time.

This brand of whiskey was quite an expensive drink here in Japan, especially for someone who would end up staying in a dump such as this one. Most of the street people would almost kill to get their hands of such quality booze like this was. It was another thing that was making no sense to the tall man.

The tall man cracked the seal on the bottle and poured a very stiff drink into one of the tumblers that were there. He lifted the drink up to his nose and paused. He could not help but grin as he could already tell by the sharp bouquet that wafted to him, the dark colored liquid was indeed authentic American made liquor that had assaulted his smell centers, and made his mouth water.

The tall lawyer did not hesitate and downed the harsh liquid in one long pull, ending up wincing a blink, as the strong bourbon burned all of the way down and even into his stomach. He smirked as the drink was like a small piece of heaven in a glass, the explosion at the end the final telltale sign of really good booze.

" _Damn... that's good shit!!"_ He commented in his head, enjoying the strong aftertaste that was left on his tongue.

He lit a smoke for himself from his old pack and took a seat on the bed to wait. He positioned himself so he could be the first thing his captor would see upon entering the room. He held the tumbler and sat as nonchalant as possible.

" Don't want to ruin my host's generosity..." He murmured with a chuckle, taking a deep intake of the smoke and settled in to wait, purposely pouring himself a much smaller amount of the whisky into his glass. He chuckled as he did so. " Don't want to be drunk when I talk to this shithead. I want to be fully coherent when I knock his own lights out."

Nagira smiled. He was ready to wait for whoever this person was, his eyes latched on to the back of the door.

The streets and back roads of the very sleazy side of the city were oddly very barren. The denizens of this shadowy world would suddenly appear, then disappear as fast as the had popped out, as they went about their shady business.

On one of many very short street that ended at a dead end, Robin on her Vespa appeared out of the night driving along at a very slow pace. She was going very slow for a reason, allowing her eyes to constantly check out every alleyway, drive through and parked car as she passed by.

The girl drove along slowly, the few street lamps that were actually working along this small road was ending up giving her very much help in peering through the darkness that seemed to be a little deeper in this part of town. Her headlight was a very powerful one, an extra she had gotten installed on her Vespa, but even that had it's limits in helping her.

Robin had been searching the streets of the area for over an hour by now, when she suddenly gasped and stopped. Something just off to her left caught her eye. The thing was sitting under one of the rare working streetlights just off of the corner of a dead end street she had came across by simple chance.

The older off white and blue trimmed sports car she was staring at was more than just familiar to the girl. The gaudiness of the purple interior it had inside coupled with the licence plate number she saw on the back of the car, finally verifying beyond any real doubt that Robin had just figured out who the owner of the sports car was.

" This is Nagira's car..." She breathlessly said turning to park her scooter in behind the automobile.

The girl got off her small putter, and walked over to the car while her eyes always kept watch for anyone that would be lurking in the shadows where the streetlights could not penetrate into Despite her young age, wit the experiences she had in the last few months, her mind had been trained to be more than just a little bit cautious of everything and everyone.

She checked the car over with a exacting eye, hoping that whatever she could see or find would help her locate the tall pragmatic man. At this point as she went over the car visually, almost anything she could find would be a big help, as having no clues was already as low as you could get on the clues scales.

The car doors were locked up tight as a drum, and everything seemed to be fully intact inside. There was no sign of any struggle around the outside of the car. To the contrary, it seemed almost too pristine to the girl. She also realized there had been no sign of vandalism or any stripping of even the hubcaps done to it, despite the area that it was sitting in. Usually a car like the tall Lawyer's would be a very prime target for street thieves.. another lesson that Amon had taught her.

The sports car looked just like it always had, for the single exception of not having it's tall owner inside, smoking a cigarette as he usually did. The lonely feel the car had, struck the tawny haired young beauty as very strange.

Robin noted there were a few parking tickets that had been stuffed under the windshield wiper on the driver's side. She pulled the yellow colored strips of paper from where they were and looked at them carefully. She knew enough to check each of the times that were usually written on them, Amon had taught her that on one mission they had when she first started with the STN-J.

The earliest of the five parking ticket that was there, was for six in the morning on this very day. That time was usually when the police and the parking officers start enforcing parking times for the day. It meant that Nagira had not been back at the car since sometime the night before

Robin' mind connected the information together, as the car had gave her a little bit of a clue, but not much of one. It had suddenly occurred to her that it did give her an idea that this was the area the _Albatross_ gambling parlor was located in. If this was where Nagira parked his car the night before, the parlor he had went to meet with his source, must not be too far away. That was something she could work with finally.

The girl went back to her Vespa and got back on. She did not want to search for the gaming parlor on foot... it was far too risky even for her. She needed a plan of action, and fast. For a moment or two, she thought on how to go about it

She finally made her plan, and it ended up being simple enough. She decided that she would just circle around every block in this area if she had to, until she could spot the place, and head in for a little look around.. It was not the greatest plan, but her Grandfather had always told her that the simplest plan would lead to a simple answer, where a complicated on would just complicate things.

As she went off in search of this establishment, Robin was sure that she could literally feel that Nagira was not very far from her right now, but the question was where he was. Steading herself, she rode off on her Vespa, determined to seek out the man, or the person he was going to meet. Either way, she was determined to the task of finding her friend... the one that she could not get out of her mind at that moment.

Across from where Nagira's car was parked, a very large shadow watched the girl check out the vehicle. The person stayed hidden in the shadows, then as the pretty Hunter left, it moved around the corner and went down the next block while still sticking to the unlit areas as it rushed away. It seemed to be hurrying, booted feet making the street echo with every pounding step it made

The figure turned down a alleyway, then ducked into a back door of a very old hotel on the corner. It disappeared inside the very unkempt brick building, never once having who it was revealed by even the partial moon that hung in the sky high overhead.


	14. Chapter 14 In over thy head

**Chapter Fourteen - In over thy head...**

The _Albatross_ was about sixty percent full at this time of the night. Gamblers were at the various card tables and the different slots machines that were set up all over the place. The heavy smell of alcohol and cigarettes hung on the air along with the deafening sounds that went along with the place. It was a spectacle of sights, sounds and smells of a world that was rarely seen in more legal establishments

A lone figure dressed in black made its way through the throng of people inside the _Albatross_, the person looking very much out of place among the flashing lights sweaty patrons that jammed the place. The person stopped to talk to a few people intermittently, then would simply continue on deeper into the gaming slum that was the gambling hole

The dark figure was Robin, who looked more than a little shell-shocked, as the place was not like anything she had ever experienced in her short life. The feeling of the room made her very uncomfortable, to the point that she contemplated more than once in the few minutes she had been there of just leaving this place as fast as she could. Thinking about the missing Nagira, and the need to find out a few things to locate him with, made her keep on searching in this den of vice.

Older men leered at the pretty Robin as she passed, while wizened ladies who were hanging around with the men shot her hatred fueled looks when they noticed her, and her young beauty that shone even in the dim light of the place. The girl just ignored them all the best she could, and kept on walking through, pressing deeper into the crowds as her eyes scanned the crowds for any signs of the tall lawyer.

A man in a very outdated suit suddenly had stepped in front of the girl. He looked at her with a very cross look on his plumping face as he chewed hard on the remains of a very well used cigar.

" What the fuck are you doing in here, little girly?" He said, his arms folded in front of himself.

" I am here looking for someone..." Said Robin, in her usual polite way.

The man looked at the girl with a very strange look, as it seemed as if he was staring straight through her eyes.

" What... did yer momma sent you to pull your father out of here or something?" He spat.

" No sir." She said, feeling a little uneasy with the man who stood there in front of her.

" Then why are you here then, girl?"

Robin stoically looked right at the man, showing that she was not going to be intimidated by him in any way.

" It a man that I am looking for..." She began again, feeling nervous as the man seemed to be eyeing her up and down hungrily.

" Aren't you a little young for peddling your ass in here?" He said gruffly, his eyes leering at her with his insinuation that hun on his lips.

Robin gasped, and shook her head very hard. The man's very callous innuendo caught her really off guard.

" That is not why I am here, sir..." She stammered with a bright red face, knowing exactly what he was implying as to her reasons to be here. "I am looking for someone in particular... Nagira Syunji.."

The man's face softened a touch, as he heard the name spoken to him. He loosened his arms and took a step towards the girl.

" You're here looking for Nagira, hu?" He said, looking at the girl with a calculating stare.

" Yes sir...That I am." She said, leaving out the why she was looking part. " I am looking for Nagira..."

The man nodded.

" Saw him yesterday... around ten or so last night..." The man said, seemingly feeling that this girl might not a threat to his place, but still he was wary of her. " All he did was meet with one of my people here, then just left after a few minutes."

" Who did he meet, Sir? Would you please tell me?" She asked, her politeness making her questions come out with a tight tone.

The man did not say anything for a few moments, as he seemed to be staring right at her.

" Why should I end up telling you anything, kid?" He snuffed, being back to not trusting this girl that was asking such questions of him. " My business is my business here...I should just toss you pretty ass out of her right now for asking such a thing of me, I have a reputation to keep here..." He waved his hand, and two very burly me appeared, waiting for the man's order... and it was not in a welcome wagon sort of way either.

Robin looked at the two man, and knew that the mane were hired muscle for the owner of this pit. She took a long breath in, showing that she was not going to go away.

" I am his friend... and he has not been seen in awhile.." She said plainly, trying to explain herself a little more.

The man's beady little eyes seemed to read the girl's face, watching her every expression for a very long few seconds. Something in his eyes had turned soft, despite the rigidity the man had been exhibiting towards Robin. He rubbed his cheek with a ring filled hand, as he tool a long look at the girl

" If you are a friend, and not some spy or something like it... I will then just ask you something that only I would know, and Nagira had told me if this would happen..." He said finally.

Robin nodded her understanding, and waited for the man to ask his question, knowing that it was a test.

" What is his brother's name?" He said, his eyes locked right on to Robin's bright emerald eyes.

" Amon!" She said softly, without blinking once.

The man blinked many times in a row, obviously Robin had been right. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, then motioned for the girl to follow him.

" Come on then, girl... I'll take ya to the guy he met..." He said, adding. " I think your not with the cops or something."

" I know." She said in a whisper.

The man led the pretty teenager through the growing crowd, straight to the back of the expansive place. Robin walked slowly, noting that the two guards had peeled off and left her with the sleazy little man. She felt uneasy a little, but kept on telling herself that she needed to do this, no matter how awkward this was making her.

In a small cramped room behind where the place's lounge was, sat two men who were playing cards together. Both were very portly built, one of the men had glasses and a grotesque pair of gold teeth in his mouth that went with is many gold chains he wore, the other man was dressed in a very blatantly bad outfit that was a very awful color of purple. Each seemed to have been a life time members of this sort of places.

The two men looked up at the man and girl as they entered the small room. The then turned to look at one another. The one then looked at Robin, like as if he was undressing her with his eyes.

" If this is my belated birthday present..." The man with the purple suit on said with a lecherous smirk at the girl. " I have to thank you, boss..."

" Cut the shit there, Kero..." The man in the outdated suit said. " She's come here to talk to Yukito..."

The man with the glasses looked up at the man, a little shocked. He fixed his glasses that had slid down his chubby nose, and looked at the girl that was standing right there.

" Why?"

" She said that she was looking for Mr. Nagira... and needs to know what you know and told him last night ..." He explained.

The short but very chunky man stood up and looked at the girl. He was not looking at the girl like the other man was, he seemed to be reading her face. Robin looked back, not feeling as uncomfortable as she did with the other men.

" You a friend of Mr. Nagira, are you?" He asked, smiling..

" I am." Said Robin, looking right at the man who seemed to have been named Yukito.

" I see that is the truth your telling about trying to find Mr. Nagira..." Said the man, grinning a little. " I also can see that he is a little more than a friend to you, young lady."

Robin's face contorted into a mask of not understanding what the man was getting at. She frowned a little.

" He is a friend of mine..." She said strongly. " He is missing, and if I can get what you told him, I might be able to find him."

" And I shall do my best to explain what I had reported to him to you..." He said.

The first man pulled the purple wearing man out of the room, leaving Robin and the man alone. The man , even tough very sleazy looking in his own right, seemed to change to a more friendlier tact than the girl originally thought.

Yukito motioned for her to take a seat on a chair, and he stayed standing.

" Now... What is you need to know?"

" What was the exact information you told Nagira the other night..." She said, firm in her need to know the info. " I don't have much money to offer you at the moment, but I can give what I have..."

The man shook his head, which shocked the young hunter.

" For Mr. Nagira and his safety thereof..." He said, smiling to reveal his golden teeth to sparkle in the low light. " I will be giving you the information you seek 'on the house', so to speak."

" You know Nagira well? Then..." She asked., hearing how he spoke of Nagira.

The man looked at her, his eye locking on to her and his face braking into a even larger smile than he had in the first place.

" Little lady... I rarely get to say this about the clientele I have in my little profession here... but he is one I truly have come to respect." He said, without a ounce of sarcasm in his speech.

" So you will tell me then?" The girl asked, making sure that was what the man had said to her.

The man started to tell her exactly what it was that Nagira had been asking about, giving the many details exactly as he had delivered to the tall lawyer. Robin sat quietly listen, recording ever single word into her memory like if her life depended on it. In fact, she knew that it could save the life of the thin man who was Amon's brother.

Soon she had the information she had came for, and a little bit more aside from that. She could really breathed a sigh of relief for the moment, in finally knowing the information. The man seemed to be happy that he did, looking at the girl with a broad smile that was refreshing in the place that she was finding herself in this night.

Robin took the time to thank the man, as she hurried to leave the room with her knowledge. Her mind was already pinpointing that she needed to see this person who had saw the family she had been told had been taken. This person was the obvious choice to go to and ask where Nagira might be, or that he might be simply checking out the home where it had happened. It was not much to actually go on at the moment, but it was something.

She thought of contacting the STN-J to get help in locating this witness and to investigate the disappearance of the family, but she had not been given the communicators the had used when she had worked with them before. She decided to head back to Raven's flat and to tell them of what she knew... provided that they were there. With Nagira still missing, she had to make herself trust her one time friends as she had done, because his life was depending on her and she had to take that chance.

Out into the night, Robin hurried out to where she had parked her beloved Vespa. She was glad that she had some information, and thought that she could find Nagira on her own with it, but she knew that many bodies on this were better than one anytime. That was another thing that her Grandfather had taught her.

She was nearing where she had parked to head out of this part of the town, beside a older model of car at the far end of the block. As she approached her vehicle, something was not feeling quite right, and she quickly scanned the darkness around herself to see just what it was that her instincts were picking up. It was as if she was being watched or something.

Looking through the night murk, Robin saw four people standing there, looking right at her, flanked by a large metal covered truck behind them She saw that they were dressed in the silver styled suits that the informant had described to her, and quickly mad the connection that these were probably the same people that had captured the family she had been told about.

Three of them were holding up large guns up and pointing them right at her, while the smaller person that stood just a little behind the others, seemed to have no weapons. Robin could only gasp and take a fast step backwards, as she knew that she was unprepared to repel any sort of attack on her.

The smallest of the four looked at her from behind the others. The person stood there unmoving for a second, pointed right at the tawny haired girl.

" Bring her down!!" The person shouted out with great authority, in a female voice. " I want her dead or alive!"

The three cocked their weapons in unison, and Robin had only time to pitch herself off to one side behind a car parked near her. She heard the sounds of gunfire ringing off the metal shell of the car in front of her, making the vehicle jump with every hit it took. She dropped to the ground for more cover, while her one hand fished her glasses from the pocket in her dress. Smoothly Robin slipped them on and rolled again to give a little space between her and the car, needing a moment to set herself for a counter move of fire.

The armed people came around the automobile on a dead run, and started to fire directly at her. The tawny haired hunter put up a wall of fire to stop the rounds from getting to her, struggling to make a plan to even the odds out a little bit. The wall of orange flames went up and very high, blocking the twenty feet or so that was the only distance between her and her would be attackers

A cold grip of fear went trough Robin, as the unexpected happened. She found the bullets were going right through her flaming wall like it was nothing, and passed her so closely she could feel the movement of the air hitting against her body.

" ORBO!!" She said, as she suddenly realized that the bullets were indeed made with that hideous green stuff, and the ORBO felt way stronger than what it had been when she was working with the STN.

As she reeled from her discovery, the girl felt two rounds suddenly strike her in the arm and the upper chest, those shots knocking her off of her knees and back to the ground like if she had been punched hard. Unbelievable searing pain shot through her like she had never felt before, as the ORBO quickly seeped into her body. She groaned, as the pain burned her from the inside out, sapping her strength with each second that passed

Badly wounded and knowing that she was, Robin scrambled behind another car as luckily the men had bee stopped briefly by the flames that obscured her for a moment. She could feel her power ebbing away a little at a time, the pain replacing it with intensity. She gasped and tried to fight off the effects that were gripping her, knowing that the flames would only stop them for so long.

As the men soon broke through the flames, she knew that she was trapped and almost helpless. She set herself with her last strands of determination, knowing that she had to fight, her life was now in the greatest of jeopardy. Being wounded, she knew her chances were already cut far below half, and dropping like a stone. The ORBO now gave who ever these people, the firm upper hand on her.

Robin already could feel that she may have only one good blast of flames left, before the ORBO finished invading her body and would then render her basically defenseless against them. Flame-flickers flashed her green eyes, readying herself for her last Hail Mary attack, and found her whispering a small prayer.

One of the three advancing silver covered people suddenly fell, with a groan of pain, then a red stain appeared on its chest. Robin was stunned, as she had not flashed her powers again, as the weakening feeling grew in her. Through the flames and smoke that choked the air, the girl could see a figure with a gun behind the three, shooting as he advanced into the scene. To her shock and relief, it ended up being Nagira.

The remaining attackers turned to return fire, but three more people had joined Nagira where he stood. In an blink of an eye, the arriving group blasted away with a tempest of gunfire that lit up the darkness with muzzle flashes, while scared people poured out of the gambling place to escape the sounds of the battle that was going on still.

A very weakened Robin could see that the people that had came to her aid were not strangers. Karasuma, Dojima and her Grandfather were the ones that were returning fire on the ones that had attacked her.

" We are here!!" Shouted Nagira, as the last of the attackers were quickly gunned down in the hail of bullets that flew through the air.

The smaller figure that had been the leader of the people in the silver suits had suddenly vanished, as had the truck. Robin could see that truck speeding away into the night as Nagira and the others fired on it. The bullets sparking and clanked on the metal side of the big transport, but bounced of it's metal shell. In a flash, the vehicle was swallowed up into the night as it escaped with whoever it was.

Nagira hurried over, seeing the girl had not moved from where she layed on the cold ground. He knelt down the moment he got to her side, his elongated features showing a great amount of concern on it.

" Oh gheesh kid..."He said, seeing the blood pouring from where the bullets had hit her arm and chest and was staining her dress with it's crimson ooze. He took out a large handkerchief and put pressure on one of the wounds for a moment. " We got you. Your in our hands now!"

" Nagira..." Robin managed to say weakly, feeling herself whole body starting go limp as he then hoisted her in his arms. " How..."

The man shook his head at the girl in his arms as he got to his feet with her as if she weighed nothing at all.

" Don't talk right now, Robin.. I will explain that later..." He said, as the others got to his side.

" But..." She said, as her mind began to shut down, her limbs were feeling like they weighed tonnes.

" Robin!" He said sternly, cutting off her weak attempt at speaking. " No talking right now...please!"

" You heard the man..." Father Juliano said, looking down into his granddaughter's pale face as she limply hung there in Nagira's gentle cradle. " We need to get you to a hospital."

She tried to say something more, but she was feeling that she was slipping into a world of sheer blackness, her friends faces were slipping form her consciousness. She could feel the ORBO take her last piece of strength from her battered body, and she finally slipped into the blackness she fought so hard against.


	15. Chapter 15 Admittance

**Chapter Fifteen - Admittance**

Nagira sat motionless in a hard backed chair, his eyes fixed on the figure of Robin laying in a bed. His face was wrinkled and heavy with his amount of worrying, as he watched the prone girl with a silent eye.

Robin was in that bed, her ashen face stilled as she had not regained consciousness since she had passed out in Nagira's arms. Her body was bandaged heavily, the bullets had been extracted from her thin form, but her mind had not come out of her state. She looked as if she was simply asleep, but that sense of calmness was very deceiving to anyone that looked at the young girl. Her fight was in fact far from being over.

Father Juliano came into the room, and came right over to where the dark haired man was sitting. He paused to look at the girl in the bed, then turned his attention once again to the tall man sitting in the chair.

" No change?" The man of God asked, his usually strong voice wavering a little with emotion.

" She has not awoken yet." muttered the tall lawyer. " Not even a hint of her waking."

The priest took a small breath in, looking over at the girl's face that was as still as he ever had seen it be. He seemed to be fighting back a tear or two as he watched his beloved granddaughter.

" The doctor said that the formulation of the ORBO was really potent..." He said, turning to Nagira. " He's treated others in the STN before, and this is by far the purest form of it he has ever seen..." He swallowed hard with the news he had spoke. " A normal hunter would have died very quickly... she has not... if she does survive, he thinks that her power might not be affected."

" You mean her body is actually fighting off that blasted ORBO stuff." Nagira said with a little relief in his words.

" Apparently she is doing it better than anyone would." The priest said, a tinge of hope in his voice. " That alone, is a miracle in my mind."

Nagira snuffed and give a small nervous chuckle as he took a glance over at Robin. In his mind, her fighting like this was not very much of a surprise for him.

" It's just like Robin... always being little above average as usual." He commented. " That is one of her more pleasing qualities."

" He said that there is a chance that she might pull through simply because of the fact that she is so strong power-wise..." Juliano said, then added with a air of caution. " But he also made it clear to point out that he did not know with any real certainty if she would be all\right or not."

" She has to..." The tall lawyer said, his voice showing the signs of stress and anxiousness with every word he made. " She must!"

Juliano smiled, as he could not argue with the man's statement. He looked at his very still Granddaughter, his face showing the extent of his own worry. He looked at the tall man, reading his face.

" Your worry is more than what you can nearly take, my son." He commented. " I have already seen the vastness of your feelings for my Granddaughter. It runs so deep and very pure."

Nagira was going to say something about the comment he had just been given, but he stopped. He could not refute the clergyman's observations any more, the truth was all encompassed in those few words- and his heart knew it. Despite Nagira's age of being nearly twice her's and everything else... his heart was with her. He had been trying so hard to fight it, but his heart was indeed losing that battle quickly.

Nagira looked over at the pretty face which was unmoving in the bed, reality was staring at him in that unconscious form. He felt his heart finally, and the truth he had been battling, now overwhelmed him.

" You know..." He said slowly, his words already hanging on the tip of his tongue. "... I do love her..."

" I saw that the moment I met up with the both of you back at that cabin..." Smiled the elderly man, clasping his hands behind his back. " I see that same feelings from her as well, but her own young age has not let her connect with that yet, confusion and hesitation is a young person's curse. But we know that she has the maturity to think as well." He sighed. " At some point in time, you will have to admit your feelings to her."

Nagira's face turned despondent, and he looked over at Robin who layed there so very still.

" I hope that I can have that chance to say something." He simply stated.

" Are you a praying man, Nagira?" Asked Juliano.

Nagira looked at the man, his serious eyes locking on to the priest's loving gaze.

" Never have been..." Softly he admitted..

" Perhaps you might try..." He said softly. " Even if your Buddhist or any other religion on our earth... a ordinary prayer is apart of living as humans, even if it is to different Gods."

" Pray to which deity?" The man asked the Priest

" I am very biased on that question...so I will say just this..." He chuckled lowly, then got serious again. " At this point... anyone... I believe God comes in every form all over this world, regardless of what your religion might be." He said, then adding. " The most basic advice I can give to you, is to pray and to pray with the utmost honesty and with your full heart."

The priest turned and started to leave. He stopped for a moment, looking over his shoulder for a moment.

" I am going to update the others who wait for news down the hall... and I want to see if that information you have shown up with has revealed anything." He paused. " You still have not explained where you had seemed to have 'disappeared' to."

" Right now... all of this shit seems so unimportant at this point." Nagira said. " I simply find myself not caring."

" I think your right on some of that... but we have this job to do..." The priest agreed, looking back at Robin. " But I have to remind you that we are waiting for your explanation on some things as well."

Nagira nodded, already knowing that he had explain himself, the person that had taken him had given him the information, but that part could indeed wait. He paused for a second, then looked at the elderly clergyman.

" Are they going to check on the identity of those three that were shooting Robin?" Nagira asked. " That might be another clue to start with."

" I have ordered that to happen already. The bodies are in our custody." Said a very tired sounding Juliano. " Some of SOLOMON are still... committed to the ways that have been.."

The priest smiled one more time and then walked out of the room, his footsteps echoing as he went down the hospital corridor. The faded off into the distance, and quiet soon fell over the hospital room.

Nagira turned back to the still form on the bed, his eyes tracing her smooth features over and over in just a few seconds.

" _Who or whatever that is really out there..." _The tall man said to himself in a mind prayer, feeling a rush of emotion. _" Please, just find it in your will, to simply let Robin live."_

He looked at Robin, and felt his body relax a little. The prayer seemed to have done nothing, but it made Nagira feel a little more peaceful.

It was now very late the day after. The sun was sinking in the cloudless sky, prompting the hot night to be totally still. The sounds of the bustling city could be heard, traffic was really bad even now.

Nagira stood outside the hospital, watching the setting sun. He took a long pull off of his smoke and watched the falling night creeping overhead, his mind still thinking on one person. The previous twenty four hours had not been good, but with Robin still holding her own, he thought that things could have be a whole lot worse.

He felt a little tired by this time, he had been up for so long, but he knew that he would not sleep anyways even if he tried. The others had left and went back to Raven's Flat to use his information and to see who these people were that gunned down Robin outside of the _Albatross_ and track down other leads. He, of course, had volunteered to stay with Robin.

He was just finished his smoke and was heading back into the hospital to sit with the pretty girl when he heard a motorcycle speeding up. He looked over, a little perturbed at the loudness of the thing.

The figure of Haruto jumped off of the cycle, and ripped his helmet off in a very hurried fashion. The youth seemed to have spotted the tall Lawyer standing off to the side of the main entrance to the hospital.

" Nagira!!" Haruto shouted, seeing the tall man standing at the entrance to the hospital.

The tall man watched the young man sprint towards him, his behavior was one of almost excitedness as he ran across the small parking lot still yelling out his name every few seconds.

" What is it, Kid?" Questioned Nagira, turning to watch the youth race up to him on pumping legs.

The kid got to the man's side in a flask, handing a sheet of paper to him at the instant he got there.

" Father Juliano sent me over with something that he thought you might be interested in what we found." He smirked.

" You found some information?" Asked the man, almost shocked with the development.

" Just read it, and you will get why I was sent." Was the lad's reply.

Nagira snatched the paper from the youth and read it with a voraciousness. He read every word like they were gold, as the youth waited for him. It held information that he would have never imagined.

" These men in the silver suits were once Zaizen bodyguards?" Nagira was completely blown away by what the information was.

" Yep... the fingerprints we ran from the bodies confirmed that they were Zaizen's personal bodyguards..." Haruto firmly assured. " They were one of two different and separate groups that were security detail for him, but strangely this group was not with Zaizen or even inside the factory when it was destroyed."

Nagira pondered on the revelation, his mind churning around the new facts that had added in on the whole thing.

" I thought Zaizen lived for keeping his sorry ass protected?" The tall man pondered out loud, his mind speculating on the details. " They were his bodyguards...Yet why were they not with Zaizen that night?"

" There is no information to why they were not with him that day..." Haruto explained. " All that the records show was that he payed these men to be his personal guards, and he had the second detail of bodyguards, who were the ones clearly assigned to be with him the night of the collapse."

" So he had only the one group with him, and these ones were not?"

" That was the records SOLOMON could extract from what was left of the computer system found in the rubble."

Nagira read over the paper again, his eyes scanning over it very quickly. He seemed to be looking for something in the printed words, some morsel of information that he was clearly not finding.

" Were these three the ones responsible for that Family being taken away?" The man asked.

Haruto nodded, his face now was not as happy as it had been.

" The eyewitness you had provided for us, from your sources, confirms that when two of them took off their hooded helmets- they were the ones. We had shown the eye witness the pictures." The youth nodded again. " The eye witness could not identify the fourth person that was there with them, that person never once took off that helmet in the informant's view."

" The informant could not even give us even a vaguest of a description either?" Said Nagira, showing his frustration.

" His other security group were positively identified and accounted for in the rubble of the Factory... and that left this squad out there... and they are clearly accounted for outside the_ Albatross_ as the ones we shot. The fourth person we saw is not identified, other than being shorter than the men in the security detail... no way of knowing who this is."

Something about this information nagged at him, but with the three men dead and the other unknown to anyone, it seemed they hit a impasse. Nagira knew that there was no other information coming from the dead, unless they got really luckily with the evidence collection unit. He shook his head and went on to thinking about the other clues that he did have.

" No sign of the new Factory's whereabouts either I suppose... or where the hell that mother fucking armored truck went when we got to Robin's aid?" Nagira poised the question with a little authority.

The lad shook his head.

" Michael is trying to determine if that truck had been caught on any of the traffic cameras anywhere in the city..." He said. " Michael said it would take as little as a few hours to many days to go through the mountain of video once he got the go ahead to vew them all."

" And the whereabouts of that Factory is still a bloody mystery, right?" He asked with sarcastic tone.

" Michael said if he can find that truck was actually on camera, he could narrow the area of the city it went in to, and we can look around for the new Factory..." Haruto explained. " and that is one hell of a big 'if'."

Nagira nodded, now having everything the lad was suppose to inform him of in his head. He rubbed his cheek and decided to light another smoke before going back to Robin's hospital room. He lit it as the youth stood there in silence.

" Guess that is all we can do for now." Growled the thin man. " Fucking nuthin' else!"

" Yeah... looks like that." Haruto said, adding as if he had just remembered something. " Father Juliano also wanted me to remind you, that if Robin wakes up... to contact us."

" I have not forgotten." Was all the man said, then going very quiet.

Haruto looked at the man and nods. The lad understanding the frustration that was going through the both of them. He waved as he began to hurry back to his bike for the ride back to Raven's Flat. Nagira only nodded in response, and watched the young man hop aboard his bike and fire it up.

Haruto gunned his cycle's engine and sped off in a cloud of dust, hitting the road at a very high rate of speed once out of the parking lot. The young man was down the street and out of sight in a very short amount of time, then completely out of sight. The only thing left was the sound of the motorcycle until it too was out of range

Nagira took a drag and leaned himself up against the side wall of the Hospital, reflecting on the sheet of paper he still held. It was very clear that once again, the news he had gotten was not much to be going with in an investigation, but it was at least stepping closer to getting something that might be useful.

That was Nagira's sense of it all. He took a drag and decided to enjoy his smoke for a little longer, then go and keep a eye on the girl up in her room. That was all could do for now anyways.


	16. Chapter 16 All pieces eventually fit

**Chapter 16 - All pieces eventually fit**

With the world spinning around in her head, Robin found herself becoming aware of things after a long time of blackness. Her green eyes finally but slowly opened, and fought to focus on where she was at this moment, as she seemed a little confused with everything.

She became quickly aware of plain white walls, the heavy and instantly distinct smell of disinfectant and the dead silence around her. She also had became aware that she was laying down, feeling a whole lot of pain in her left arm. Robin then noticed that she felt a weight on one of her hands as she layed there.

The girl turned her head and looked over to that side, her mind already figuring that she was in a hospital at the moment. She found that a figure was right next to her bed, and her vision cleared even more so she could see just who it was that was there with her. It was a plesant surprise when she did.

She found Nagira sitting right next to her bed. He was partially lounged back in a chair, his one hand was layed lightly on her hand, which explained the heaviness she had felt. The man had fallen asleep in this position it seemed, head tilted back a little and resting on one shoulder. She felt some comfort to find the man was there, and a little more that she could not explain away.

The man looked so tired, his face seemed almost pale in slumber. She watched him sleeping for a moment, noticing how peaceful he seemed despite all of that. She could feel that he was starting to stir, and hoped that she had not done anything to wake him up. His eye slowly opened, and his had slowly turned to her in the bed.

A large smile flooded his face when he saw her looking back at him, a long sigh came from him.

" Robin..." He said, his voice seemed breathless as he stared into her face. " Your awake!"

" Hi..." She hoarsely said, breaking a somewhat confused smile..

He stood up and leaned over Robin, his hand never leaving from hers. He seemed to be so glad to see her, his face could never have hid the big smile that was now firmly planted on it.

" How are you doing there, Girl?" He asked gently, his eyes twinkling as he looked at her.

" Pain..." She said, her voice still raspy.

He chuckled and nodded, as he already expected that she would say that. He calmed his happiness a little, and peered into her face.

" You had us all so worried about you..." Nagira said. " You have been away from all of us for quite awhile now."

" You too..." She said with a small smirk.

" That... I was!" He admitted.

" Tell me then... where were you?" Hoarsely inquired the girl, her eyes holding the emotions she had felt all of that time. " I looked for you all around that area..."

" I know you did." He smiled, already finding out that she had done that, and whole lot more. " I'll put it this way to you...It's kind of a long story, Robin."

" Then answer me... where were you?" she said, half sitting up as she demanded an answer from him.

As Robin sat herself up to speak and make sure she knew exactly what had happened to the man, the sheet covering her shifted and started to slip down. It almost ended up exposing her bared breasts, much to her own surprise. It was that moment, she had made a startling realization that she had been laying there in the bed fully naked, and the sheet was going to reveal more than what she ever wanted to.

" Oh!!" She said, embarrassed, trying to cover herself in extreme embarrassment with the revelation of her state

Like a gentleman should be, Nagira layed her back down quickly and pulled the sheets up to cover the ivory of her exposed skin again, making sure that nothing was flashed. He did not make mention of it as he did, giving her a soothing smile instead. The quite gallant move on the tall man's part made Robin feel safe.

" I will sit down and explain things with you..." He said, his voice showing that he was promising to do just that and not on the near flash he had gotten. " Right now, I have to step outside to use my cell and phone the people back at Raven's Flat... they wanted to know exactly when you woke up."

" Then will you explain where you were?" She put in there, pleading a little in the process.

" Yes, I will." Was his answer.

Robin nodded and smiled., seeing the man was serious about answering her Nagira leaned in and gave her a small kiss on her cheek before leaving the room. Robin felt a instant feeling, which she had felt any of the times she had been with Nagira, jump in her chest. With her feelings still rattling around in her, the girl smiled while watching the man leave to make the call to the office.

In the silence of the room that fell, she began to remember details of her ordeal with some real clarity to it. She was needing someone to fill in some of the blanks on that night, but her mind seemed to be gyrate on to one memory in particular, the only one that had effortlessly popped in to her head.

Robin clearly could hear the fourth person of the group that attacked her screaming in her head, almost as if that person was right there. The figure had been barking out orders to the other three, in a very distinctly female voice. It was so very forceful, it was direct and soul chilling as she clearly could remember that the lady was ordering these men with the huge weapons to either kill her, or capture her, and her mind flooded bach the feeling of imminent danger she had grip her very being.

Robin thought on it a little harder, as she layed there, fighting the fear it was bringing up. It seemed that the voice held something for Robin, for it seemed to trigger in her mind that it was a voice she had heard before. After being out for so long, it was causing her not to grasp who this was. It was the same feeling she had in remembering smelling the perfume as well, almost as if the two was linked in some way.

" _Can this be connected in some way?" _ She asked herself, ignoring the pains that were shooting through her body. She thought on the voice again. _" The voice... who is that?"_

She could not help but think on it, it was right there but she could not piece it together through the little bit of haze that still clouded her mind to a degree. The voice, the perfume and even the attacker at Nagira's law office popped into her mind. The things really did seem to be connected, but to whom? If she could find that out, she knew that it might lead them to the new Factory, and to the ones taking witches off the streets by force.

Robin was more than just a little frustrated with herself, even thought she had barely came out of being unconscious She could just feel it, the knowledge right there but not at the same time. It was almost like she knew exactly who this person was already, but her mind was not willing to come out with the fact easily. She layed there, trying to will her mind to give up the fracture of information.

Ten minutes later, Nagira strode into the room, his long oval face was showing a very large smile on it.

" Your Grandfather is on his way to the hospital as we speak here..." He said, his smile becoming even larger than it had been. " He was excited as anything to come down and see those sparkling greens eyes of yours being open after three days... just like I was hoping for all along."

" Y... You were?" Asked the girl.

Nagira give a almost boyish nod of he head to the girl inn the bed. He wet his lips a few times, his eyes averted downward.

" I did!" He said finally, after a long pause. " I was so worried that you were not going to make it."

" Why?"

" I have my reasons..." His only words.

She smiled and blushed a little, as the man also seemed to be. The looked at one another as a silence fell on the room, neither one of them really knowing what to say. They looked at one another, each seemingly fighting for something to say, and ending up simply saying very mundane thing in the meantime.

Nagira left again after a little while of small talk, to see if Father Juliano was there, his nervousness with his own emotions towards the young hunter was too much at the moment. He hurried to check, his mind still fighting to say nothing at all to the girl.

Robin just let herself lay quietly, her very mind quickly drifting back to her little problem. The clues nagged her, instincts hitting on full red alert with it all. The tawny haired girl merely closed her eyes and tried to think harder than ever, something telling her that she was on the right track. She needed to really find out what her mind was trying to tell her.

She suddenly gasped and sat as straight as she could have in bed. The girl looked almost panicked, her facial features tightened and flushed. She covered her mouth and shook her head for a moment.

" _Dear lord...NO!!" _She thought, as her mind hit upon the answer she had wanted.

About twenty minutes later, Nagira and Father Juliano came into the hospital room together. Each were ecstatic for the turn of things, and the apparent remarkable recovery the young girl had made. The stepped into the room, and got a shock of their lives in front of their eyes.

There was Robin, sitting up on the bed side. The young hunter had herself almost fully dressed, notwithstanding the bullet holes and dried remains of blood that the dress had in them. She continued to clothe herself as the man stood dumbstruck in the center of the room.

Each man was more than simply stunned that the girl was trying to not only dress, but seemed to be wanting to leave the hospital so early.

" My child... what are you doing?" Father Juliano said with great concern, seeing the girl fighting to finish put on her boots, despite having only one useful arm at the moment.

Robin had this very determined look on her face, one that both men had never even seen a hint of from the girl. She paused for a moment, seemingly fighting through a shooting pain.

" Both of you have to take me right to Raven's Flat... and fast!" She said, eyes closed for a second.. " I need to have Michael look something up."

The man were stunned, as the girl seemed to be really not fooling around with what she said. Nagira put his hand on his hip, and stared at the girl's unflinching face.

" What the hell for?" The man said with a sternness. You have been unconscious from being shot for three days, had surgery to remove bullets that have pierced your body... why are you wanting just to bound up out of your bed and leave the hospital after that? You need time to heal."

" I just have to get there, Nagira." Robin said flatly, not once backing down despite the other's objections. " I do not have a grace period to be letting myself lay here and do nothing.. I have to do this...now!"

" Come on..." He replied back. " What in the hell is so damned important, that you have to do thins right now?"

Green eyes lifted and stared right at Nagira, the seriousness that was going on beyond her eyes was clear. She finished slipping on her last boot and took a deep breath in, her pain still evident on her smooth face.

" Just take me to Raven's Flat...I will explain everything, once the others can hear what I have to say..." She said, adding. " And you still have to explain where you were when you vanished, but this needs to be done now!"

Nagira nodded, agreeing with out actually wanting to. He moved closer to the girl, searching her face for an answer to why she was doing this in the first place. She was not giving that up easily.

" Why are you wanting to go to the office? If we are going to do this, we do have a right to know what is in your pretty head."

" I now know the identity of that fourth person that attacked me." She said, her tone was fattened and very firm. " I recognized the voice of that fourth person almost immediately when I awoke from being unconscious, It sounded so familiar, like I knew the person already... and now I know!."

" Who?" Her Grandfather inquired., seeing how his granddaughter was so sure of what she was saying. " Who is it?"

The girl seemed to be struggling with the question, as if a part of her was hesitant to verbalize what she was speculating on. She paused for a second, as she seemed to rectify whatever battle was going on inside of her self, her emerald eyes become brighter green as she lifted her head to look at the men.

" I pray that I am wrong on what I am thinking... I think I am right!" She said, standing up on her still very unstable legs and heading over to the men. " The perfume I smelled at your office, the expensive woman's shoe you found... the female voice of the leader of the group that attacked me... I figured it all out..."

" You know who the woman was that nearly killed us? She was the one in charge of that attack group? " Nagira said, wanting to hear out the girl's deductions. " Who is it, Robin?".

Her green eyes locked on to Nagira's gaze, there was a stoic resolve that was lit in her eyes.. a resolve that was chilling. She straightened up as best she could with her injuries, regarding the two men with a stiffened jaw. She took a single step forward, not standing directly in front of the two.

" The person was...Touko!" Was her answer, flat a all to firm.

Both men stood there, the name stunned them!


	17. Chapter 17 Little clues, big problems

**Chapter 17 - Little clues... soon to be big problems**

Commissioner Kosaku Stands off to the side of the room, watching the goings on in the STN offices. He watches everybody at work on some very strange information brought in. He eyes each person as he observes the work, but soon his attention fell on a single person in the group, the pretty and stoic hunter called Robin Sena as some of the other hunters left for their meal breaks..

He watches the girl as she sits beside his resident computer guru, Michael, her eyes glued to the screen of the lad's computer. With everything going on, she seems to be pushing herself the hardest of all of them, even though she was in obvious pain and had one arm firmly stuck in a sling. It was like something different was with the girl. Her demure demeanor had been replaced by a confidence that had been lacking with her previously. .

The Commissioner could only smile and watch, Robin Sena was a real marvel to him. Now it had changed to a very clear case of pure respect for the girl, a respect that ran so very deep in himself. Giving the girl a benefit of a doubt with her suspicions and thoughts on all of this, he turned and let the people do their work with her. He took his cup of tea he had set on a table, heading back into his office.

Michael was tapping away, as Robin watched intently. He seemed to be doing the work, but his face showed his scepticism. He saw that the same look he had, was on Nagira who watched from behind where they sat.

" How can it be Touko?" He asked. " After the attack on the apartment, she had been very injured by the SOLOMON goons... and she was never the same again, by the reports I have seen."

The Girl looked at the lad with a tired look.

" The perfume and everything all makes me know it was Touko..." She plainly said. " The voice was the key, and it was absolutely her. I am very sure of that."

" Is that why you have me searching the property records of Zaizen's... to see if anything was inherited by her after his death?" He inquired, getting the information straight in his head.

" If there is something passed on by him, it would be in the public records somewhere as been passed off to Touko as his only living heir, or to his ex-wife..." She explained her reasoning. " We are looking for a large building or a piece of land that just might have that new Factory hidden on it... perhaps built underground."

" Underground?"

" That would explain why we have not located it yet." She explained. " I am not sure of that though."

Michael was not quite sure that he would find something, but a something also told him that she just might be onto something in the meantime. He just went very quiet and started his searching the many data banks he had access to. He knew that Robin had earned his benefit of a doubt.

To the computer lad's surprise, three listings came up on the screen. He leaned in to look at the description that was given on it. Robin had seen it come up and was reading the same thing over his shoulder with interest.

" All three of these are Zaizen holdings...and all were turned over only days after the factory had collapsed." He said, then grunting. " There is a huge piece of property only a two kilometer north ride from the _Albatross_..."

The lad looked at the listing carefully, noting the exact location of the land. He snuffed and quickly changed screens on the computer. Robin looked at the lad, a little confused at Michael computer things.

What are you doing now?" She asked.

The lad smirked confidently at the young lady beside him.

" I am accessing the traffic light camera archives... I will check the back logs of video to see if that Factory styled truck was near there on that night."

" Do you know if they have any traffic cameras out there?" She said, knowing roughly the area the property was in.

" There are only three within a few blocks of the property listed..." He said, eyes never straying from the monitor. " It is a long shot, because there are many access roads and back ways to get around the few major intersections out that far...but I will look through the archives to make sure."

Robin, still feeling the pain from her injuries nodded. It was a sound idea from the spiky haired guru of the computers.

" How long will it take you?"

" Factoring in the slowness of the computer I have to upload from... might take me most of the night." He said. " Perhaps even into the morning."

Robin nodded and stood up, deciding to leave and let the lad get to work. The youth was not even aware that she was leaving, as his entire concentration was totally shifted on to waiting for the upload to slowly come about. He was oblivious of anything around him already, and that was fine with the girl..

Unexpectedly, Robin felt a great heaviness come over her, the pain was now was almost too much for her. She shot out her good arm out and steadied herself on a desktop, as the light headed feeling turned into all over dizziness that flowed through her and weakened every part of her. She had never felt like this ever in her life, and had to forced herself to stabilize and stop her legs from buckling.

Out of nowhere, Nagira was almost immediately at her side, his long arm cupping around her sleek waist as he steadied her. She slumped a little, unable to stop herself from actually leaning into the lean man's body for more support, that alone stopping herself from crumpling to the floor.

" I think I should get you to your room for a little while..." He murmured, looking at her with concern. " You need to rest... you had surgery only a few days ago, after being shot for your troubles."

" I need to be here when Michael is done checking things..." She said stubbornly, trying to fight through the pain.

" Bull shit!" Said the tall man, not worrying about swearing at the moment, despite the glare he got from Robin . " You need to get some sleep."

The commissioner came over, as he had emerged out of his office at that exact point of time, seeing what was going on. He looked at the girl directly, a sternness filled his dark eyes as he regarded the wobbly girl..

" Go on and get some rest right now, Robin..." He said with a low tone. " If there is anything to report, we will come and get you when that happens.."

" But..." She said, trying to argue the man's point.

" We need you as good as you can be..." The commissioner said, a more concerned tone creeping into his sternness. " If that means you going and getting some sleep while all of us work on this, then ...Yes, go and sleep for awhile! Just call that a direct order and do it."

Hearing the head of the STN-J's strong words, she quickly relented and nodded in agreement to the order given her. Despite Robin wanting to be there, it was her own body that was now seemingly in control at the moment. She was feeling so weakened, having a lot of pain through out and it really needing some rest, and she had to admit that to herself it just might be the right thing to do.

Nagira looked around for one of the girl's to come with him to put this weakened gal to bed. He realized that both Miho and Dojima were not in the office at the moment, and Father Juliano was also no where to be seen either. He swore in his head, realizing that they might have left sometime ago to get something to eat..

He shook his head and sighed deeply, realizing that it would be up to him to put this young one to bed.

" Come on then, Robin.." He said softly, holding most of her up on her now wobbly legs. " Let's get you to bed for a nice sleep."

The tawny haired girl did not fight her friend's insistence in taking her for some sleep, letting herself be led over to the elevators for the ride down to where they were staying. She sighed and kept her feet moving the best that she could have, as he directed her, but it was the man that made sure she made it to the lift.

The man bore the girl in to the room in the belly of the building, and set her softly on the bed. She seemed to wince in pain, but managed to sit on the edge without any help. He smiled a little, as he looked into her eyes, seeing how uncomfortable she was..

Let me help you off with your boots..." He said, kneeling down and taking one foot in his hand.

The girl simply gave in and let the man shuck off her boots. She was amazed at how tender and gentle he was with her. She smiled in thanks to the man, who only grunted a little in response to her. Nagira then stood up and looked at her, trying to comfort her voicelessly for a moment.

" I will get your nightgown for you if you tell me where it is.." He said, then stopped as her face suddenly turned very red..

His mind flashed to the fact that she slept naked, a fact he had accidentally stumbled on some time ago. He steadied himself, knowing that in her pain, she might not be able to change out of her clothes alone, and her to be comfortable she must be undressed so as to help out her getting some sleep. He looked at her, and she was still blushing very brightly.

" I don't have... clothes I sleep... in.." She stammered, blushing a very deep shade of crimson.

The tall man sighed and moved closer to her, knowing exactly what he needed to do for Robin.

" This might be awkward for both of us..." He started, trying to be as gentlemanly as possible. " But we need to get you changed and into bed and as comfortable as we can get you to be... and if that means you have to sleep naked here, so be it."

She blushed even harder, but in moving her upper body with the shudder that went trough her, she winced with great pain and knew the man was right. He started to disrobe her ever so softly, much to the mortification of the young hunter, but she found that he was very slow and considerate.

Nagira had her dress off soon enough, being careful of the injured arm and shoulder area while trying not to look at her naked upper body. He found himself still noting that she wore no bra and he had caught a sideways glimpse of her ivory bare skin and had accidentally took in how small but very perky her breasts were. He felt his body react with a shiver, but suppressed it the best he could.

" _Get a grip, man!" _He told himself, as he felt drawn almost to the half naked young girl..

He continued slowly, but found he could smell the delicate musk her skin gave off as he knelt to help her off with her hose, feeling how limp she was from fatigue and pain. Her long legs were smooth and very angular, a sight for any red blooded man, but he fought himself all the way for actually noticing it. He stood her up and took down her underwear, much to the extreme bashfulness of the girl.

Her stomach was flat and muscular, screaming at himself on the inside for noticing that the girl had shaved certain parts of herself. He swallowed and told himself a tidal wave of swears in his mind, telling himself not be such a 'dirty old man'. Her beauty was really hard to ignore, he had to admit though.

Nagira found himself now really attracted to the girl, attracted in ways he had always tried to avoid at all costs, but she was a vision of such beauty, and he knew that was not just for her body either. All of this had just heightened every last feeling he had pushed down, and now was stewing just under his skin. He pushed all of it as far away from his mind as possible, knowing he had to.

He swung the now totally disrobe girl into bed and covered her up with the blankets. He finally found himself feeling better that she was now covered, but his mind had kept the image of her as a souvenir. He took a long breath and looked into those shockingly emerald eyes of hers.

" You get some rest now..." He said, his voice purposefully calmed. " If there is any developments, I will come right down and tell you."

" Thank you for being so chivalrous..." She said with a smile and a blush.

He smiled and nodded, her use of words had always impressed him. She lifted her head as if she was going to say something to him, and he leaned in to hear, knowing just how weak she was. He was surprised when she had kissed him on the cheek, one that was sort of long and feeling. He just smiled and tried to be honorable, but he wanted so badly to kiss her right back., but right on those gentle angular lips that somehow was calling him. He stood up and nodded, fighting that urge off successfully, then left the room, turning off the light.

After closing the door, he stood in the hallway for a moment, berating himself for actually checking Robin out like that. He was very cross with himself, but the visions of what he saw danced in his head.

" _She is a kid... get a fucking hold of your self, Nagira..."_ He spat in his mind. _" She's half your damn age!"_

He turned and walked off to the elevator, going to head back up and keep his promise to the girl about any revelations that might come about.. He found himself still battling those feelings once again. They were sexual in nature partially, but he also knew his own heart... that was not just the case. He always felt more for the girl than just a animalistic pull... it was far more. The whole person that was Robin, always did draw him.

Once up in the main area again, he came upon Michael still working hard on what he had been when he had taken Robin down to bed. It looked like the youth was still impatiently waiting for that download to come through, and decided to go have a smoke while he waited on the spiky haired genius to do his thing.

Nagira turned and found himself face to face with the head of the STN-J. The short balding man seemed to be in no mood for any idle chit-chat, staring down Nagira boldly.

" Now that Robin is taken care of... there is a little question of what the hell happened to you for over a day?" The man asked with a sense of authority.

" Yes... there is..." Nagira said, almost coyly in reply.

The much shorter man waited for a moment, looking at Nagira. The very lean lawyer was not saying a word yet, and seemed to not be trying very hard to even say one thing. Kosaku crossed his arms to show his frustration.

" Well?" The Commissioner pushed. " Are you going to say something?"

" It is a long story..." Finally spoke up Nagira, after a few more moments of silence.

Nagira crossed his arm and continued to look at the STN-J leader, but he seemed in no hurry to speak. The Commissioner eyed the man, as the silence that was between them was becoming a sore spot for him.

" I am going to be guessing that your not going to say one damn thing, are you?" Said a very frustrated Commissioner.

" I will tell you all of it, that is what I have promised... but just not right now..." Nagira grinned.

" Why in the hell are you not telling me?" The short balding man asked, reading the taller man's face with little success. " We need to know what happened, and so will Robin. Are you just going to keep us in the dark until you finally decide to actually explain yourself?"

" All I will say is that I have my reasons not to at the moment." Was all Nagira divulged to the man. " I just have to do that right now."

Commissioner Kosaku's bald head turned a bright shade of red, his body going a little stiff as his eyes began flaring with a touch of anger toward the much taller man. It was obvious that he wanted more out of Nagira, than he was actually getting.

" Answer me one thing then, out of some respect you may or may not have for me..." The man finally said. " Just tell me... Am I going to regret any of this later on, Mr. Syunji?"

" In the end... I don't think so..." The tall lawyer said cryptically. " I will explain after a little bit, like I've said, I have to do it this way... But I choose not to do that right at this point."

The commissioner shook his head and let loose a whispered swear, and walked off in a huff.

" Everyone keeps me in the dark..." He commented loud enough to make Michael look up from his work. " I am the Commissioner of the STN-J, and no one says damn squat to me."

Nagira snuffed and decided not to let the man's frustration bother him. He had promised to tell things, and he knew that he would end up having to do just that, but he knew at the moment he could not. He knew he had a very good reason not to say anything just yet, the bump on his head that he had gotten that past night a sharp reminder of keeping silent for the time being.

Nagira simply headed off to find a place to have a smoke and relax for a time, this had been a very hard day already... and from what he knew to himself only, all of this would not be getting any easier anytime soon.

He soon went back to thinking about Robin, despite all of the other things that were crowding his mind. He sighed, hating himself for more than the one reason... there were quite a few his mind was reminding him of.

Lighting a smoke as he entered the well room, he forced himself to stop all of this shit in his head and hoped that the priest would come back soon. It was the linchpin that would get what he had gone through out into the open..


	18. Chapter 18 A clue unearthed

**Chapter 18 - A clue unearthed**

Nagira blinked his eyes and looked around him, disoriented for a couple seconds. With the dream he was having about Robin fading from his memory, he struggled to bring himself out of that unconscious state that was slumber. He hated to leave the image of the pretty tawny haired girl behind and to wake, but he knew that if he fell back asleep, he probably would not have the same dream.

He found that he had fallen asleep while waiting in the computer lab, sitting in a chair up against one wall. By the small bit of light he could see coming into the window, he estimated that it was just the time for daybreak outside. It would have been just after five o'clock if he had to guess at it.

Stretching his long body a little to get feeling back in some parts of his limbs, he sat up more and took a slow glance around the room.

Michael was still where he had been, glued to his station and the monitor he faced constantly. The youth was still so very intent on what he was doing, although Michael was starting to look more than just tired. Nagira sat up and turned to face Michael, his original thoughts of coffee and a cigarette had left for the moment.

" Did you find anything yet?" Nagira asked, his voice still hoarse from sleep as sat himself straighter in the chair that was his bed for the night.

Michael half shrugged his shoulders, taking a quick glance at his computer's screen before making eye contact with the bony built man.. .

" Almost got it all downloaded now." He said plainly, showing his frustration with the length of time it took.. " Give me roughly a half hour to have it finish and so I can quickly run through some of the playback that would be that time period we are needing to see."

" Took long enough, didn't it?" The man murmured with a sleepy chuckle, nodding a little.

" That is a pet peeve for me... but with it done, I can finally do what I was asked." Said Michael, seemingly getting his second wind.

Nagira was glad to hear that it was going good, at least by the youth's standards. The tall man stood up and headed to the kitchen area of the place, smelling the sweet aroma of coffee on the air. He thought a cup of mud, with a smoke would make his eyes pop open more, and get his brain moving this day.

" _I'm becoming so damned predictable..."_ He told himself, knowing that his habits were long intrenched. That was how he usually got himself ready for any day, he mused with himself.

Finding a quiet seat beside the well, Nagira sipped his coffee and lit his first smoke of the day. He smiled, as the combination of the two was like ambrosia to every part of his senses. He took a second pull from his coffee, and that plesant sensation he had was reaffirmed to the maximum, as he broke out a large smile with it.

" This is the fucking stuff..." He said to himself, as that seemed to let his mind come around, and kick out the rest of the sluggish feelings that always came from waking up so damned early.

Just relished the silence of the place, Nagira listened to the droning sounds of the air conditioner as it came on off in the distance. He sipped on his coffee purposely slow and let the tranquillity of the well area put him into a better frame of mind. The last little while had not been conducive to being relaxed, and he took any small smattering of peacefulness it any way and anytime he could at this point.

His cell phone suddenly went off on his hip about ten minutes later, after he had nearly finished his coffee off. Startled when it rang, he was not expecting any calls to be coming in right then, so he knew something was brewing. He answered the annoying little device quickly with a subtle gruffness.

" Where are ya, Nagira?" The voice of Michael said.

" Having a smoke..." He said, irritated that after being up all night, the lad was still way to chipper for his own good.

" I found something here... something really, really big..." The lad said, so excited that if came across loudly through the earpiece.

The excitement got Nagira instantly hyped up, as the youth seemed to be almost ready to explode with it on the other end.

" I am guessing that Robin might have been right?" Was the only question Nagira had.

" It looks more and more like she was on the right track with everything!!" The lad replied.

Nagira hurriedly cast his almost finished smoke away in a corner and stood up. He began heading straight for the elevator with a distance eating stride.

" You set it up what ever it is you need to... I will go and roust Robin out of bed for this." He said.

" Dojima is already down there getting her..." The youth's voice said in quick response " Just get up here and see this... I had my doubts, but damn, I thing Robin is on to something here."

" Is it that clear that she was right?" He questioned back to the youth, hearing the insistence flood through the phone

" Not quite sure about the thing with Touko's being involved in it yet!" The boy drawled. " But what I have seen on this clip here, this will go to prove or disprove it. Come and see for yourself."

" On my way!" Nagira said, cutting the youth off when he hung up.

With very quick feet, Nagira hurried to catch the elevator, his heart pounding with anticipation. It was starting to appear that the pretty little hunter girl might just have something after all. He eagerly stepped into the elevator and pressed a button, swearing at the slowness of the lift.

Nagira was already standing at Michael's workstation when Robin came in with Dojima. Their eyes locked and the girl blushed a surprising shade of bright pink as she shifted her injured arm in the sling. Even with her extreme fatigue and everything else, the girl obviously remembered the man helping her into bed the night previous. Nagira also did, his mind still fighting off the images that were locked in so deeply.

Michael spoke, breaking the two's eyes apart. All eyes were not on to the spiky haired computer whiz.

" I found the image of the factory truck going through one of the intersections that is only a block away from the property we found listed yesterday." He started, seemingly very proud of the fact. " It went through that intersection exactly ten minutes after you guys reported that the truck had peeled out of the _Albatross_ parking area, and was going over the speed limit there, by the time frame."

Robin looked at the youth, her eyes were now a very vibrant shade of green, as she heard what the youth had just reported. She leaned closer to the youth as she watched the video playing on his computer

" Was an image of who might be inside the truck captured?" She asked hopefully, her grandfather standing nearby her..

" By how the camera is angled and the distance... I doubt it got any useful shots of who was inside..." Said the boy.

" Could you try and manipulate the picture?" Asked Robin, still watching the image moving on the monitor. " I heard that with a computer people can do that."

Michael looked at the video image that was playing on his computer, and seemed to be really thinking on that. Robin waited.

" I could try I guess..." He said, thinking on the girl's query. " It might take awhile for me to see if I can do it."

" How long?"

" I'm not sure..." He said, watching the video image that he had playing in a loop on the screen.

" Is it possible though?" Nagira jumped in, seeing the youth was noncommittal at the moment.

" I won't know unless I try..." He said, a little sceptical that it would end up working.

Commissioner Kosaku stepped in to the middle of all who were gathered. The little bald man looked at the computer lad and nodded, a rare smile on his face.

" You try that, Michael..." He said straight to the youth. " Try every trick you can think of."

" I'm on it..." The lad said back, seemingly now at least wanting to try it out..

The small statured leader of the STN-J then turned his attention to everyone else that were around him. He seemed to pause for a moment or two, seemingly pondering on something quite hard.

" I should send one of you to drive past this property, and see what the hell you can make out."

" You me an initial surveillance?" Came in Miho

" Seeing the property might give us a clue..." The man said, adding. " It will give Michael a chance to do what he has to do, and give us a little more information."

Nagira smirked and looked at the short man.

" I'll go and give a look..." He said. " Since I am the least known out of the lot of you, that might be the best way to do this."

" That would be the best scenario." The man said, thinking on the man's volunteering on the fly.

Robin grabbed Nagira attention from the commissioner by stepping in between them, her gaze seemed to be have as searing serousness to it.

" I am going to come with you then..." She said, her voice flat, but the way she said it spoke of her renewed strength she seemed to had gotten with sleep.

" Don't be so stubborn, girl, You just stay back and take it easy..." Nagira said quickly in response.

" I am coming along with you, Nagira!" She returned, with more force piped through her voice. " I am not going to take no for an answer, and that is that!"

" Why?"

" I just need to... is that not enough?" She came back, her facial features had a truly intense look on her usually soft face.

Nagira looked deeply into the girl's eyes, reading what was going on in that head of her's. He saw that their was absolutely nothing that was going to change her mind about coming along with him to check out this property. He felt that Robin was bound and determined to be with him on this, no matter what he might come up with to persuade her not to.

" Are you sure your feeling strong enough to come with me?" He finally asked with a dry tone, already knowing what the young hunter's answer would be.

Robin, despite the pain she was obviously still experiencing, threw her chest out and stared him down, determined to get herself across to the tall man. Her eyes were showing no signs of fear or doubt with her decision she had made.

" Yes!" She said sharply.

" Nothing I can say or do to stop you, hu Kid?" He said with a frustrated smirk on his now unshaven face..

The tawny haired girl shook her head, and looked at him calmly with her usual dignity in tact. With her eyes now a very luminous shade of emerald green that latched on to the man's dark colored orbs, it put a final stamp on the girl's words. Robin was coming along with the man no matter what.

" Stubborn!" He said, shaking his head

The tall lawyer capitulated by nodding while turning to get the print out of the address he needed from Michael. He saw the commissioner had walked off by then, obviously knowing that even his input would never change the girl's mind. The man was a true leader, he knew when to step back and let his people do what they needed to do...A fight on this was not even an option, and he saw that clearly.

With the print out in hand, Nagira headed to the elevator for the ride down to where his car was parked in the garage, the tawny haired girl following him, matching step for step. He eyed the girl as she followed, her eyes still showing intensity like he never had seen in her ever.

" _Amon trained her to be this way... I know it..." _Nagira told himself, knowing now own else but his dead brother that could have been so damned stubborn


	19. Chapter 19 Morning brings more than ligh

**Chapter 19 - Morning brings more than light.**

Tokyo's old industrial area was a mass collection of very run down but not quite unused buildings. The area was still being used mainly for simple storage, as most of the manufacturing and supplementary plants had long since moved to bigger accommodations over the past few years to the newer industrial park many miles across the city.

The whole dilapidated area was simply large buildings that were used for putting things away in 'cold storage', until the companies that own the many things needed whatever it was that was stored. All of the buildings were, in essence, mainly a convenient dumping ground for large and small corporations to use at will. The area also had it's darker side as well, a side that most of the businesses would rather people never knew of.

The industrial area was also known for being very notorious because of it's proximity to the Walled City area. Many a murder was done or found there, shady deals were always being made and unmade because of the area the way it was. It was also a perfect hideout for the seedier side of Tokyo's population that lived only a few kilometers away. It was simply known as a 'business' area for more than one real reason, but many more people living outside the realm of all this never wanted to acknowledge it.

On one of the many roads throughout the area, atop of a small hill, a older sports car was parked tactfully behind a small clumping of trees, bushes and two smaller building. Under the light of the rising sun, the vehicle was well hid, as one would have to know it was there, to actually have seen it. With the buildings also scattered around, it was like the sports car was a phantom machine, even the brightening light of day was not going to reveal it.

Inside the car, two figures sat motionless. Each had a set of binoculars in hand, trained out to the exact same places. Nether one was moving, as both of the figures watched with great intensity.

The tall man behind the wheel give a low audible grunt and lowered his spyglasses. He turned his head a little to see a young girl siting in the passenger seat beside him.

" What do you make of all of that?" The man said. " Could that all be our suppose it 'other Factory'?"

The young girl next to him lowered her own set of binoculars and looked at the man, her face was somber. Nagira was readying a digital camera with a long lens to be used, if needed.

" I see a large three deep electric security fencing system around a open field, guards and dogs patrolling everywhere and there is nothing else on that property..." Robin said, pointing out what she was seeing. " Nagira... That might be a yes."

" You think this new Factory was built purposely underground?" He added in his question, his eyes knowing what might be that answer. He snapped a picture of the field as he waited.

" How else would you explain a large number of men and guard dogs guarding a very empty piece of land?" She said, then added. " Zaizen always backed himself up business wise one way or another. A second Factory was not out of the possibility, considering he commitment to developing ORBO."

The man nodded, also coming up to the same conclusion as the young girl had. He lit a smoke and regarded the young girl with one eye.

" If we could just see this damned armored truck on this property one time, perhaps we could find where the underground opening... if there is one..." He snuffed. " And we can verify your suspicions."

" We may have to wait then..." Was the girl's reply, her logic clear.

Nagira nodded, the girl was right. He sat back in his car seat and took a pull from his smoke, as Robin went back to watching the property. He knew this might take awhile, setting the camera on the console between the girl and himself

A hour later nothing had changed, except for the appearance of more guards inside the multi- fenced area. In Nagira mind, it was a sign that something was going to, or about to happen. Judging by the stiffness of the girl's posture in her seat, Robin was expecting something also. It was still simply to wait, that was the hardest.

Robin suddenly set her spyglasses down, and looked at her friend. The emerald eyes held a certain serious glint in them.

" May I ask you a... question, Nagira?" She said with a staggered voice, after taking in a sharp breath in before she had spoken.

" Sure..." He said, curious what was on the girl's mind. He had his assumption of what was going to be asked, and waited for her to ask again where he had ben the night he had vanished. " Ask away!"

The girl fidgeted with her hands in her lap, nervousness now increasing in the way she was acting.

" I want to first say that I want to thank you for helping me last night..." She said slowly, her face reddening into a shockingly shade of pink. " You were so gentlemanly in they way you helped me, and caring in every way."

" You needed a little help, being as you were in so much pain... I just helped." Said Nagira with a smile.

" My question concerns you helping me like you did..." She said, her voice was very soft.

Nagira waited nervously, as the image of a very naked Robin cropped up in his mind. He felt a little uneasy that he had to help the girl like he did, and with the fact that it had ended up strengthened a long list of emotions he always seemed to be experiencing toward the girl, made it even odder. He waited for the girl to ask her question, as he tried to plan out what the questions might be and what he could answer her with.

The young Hunter girl paused for a moment once again, then it seemed that the girl finally gathered up the nerve to continue.

" When you... helped me undress and put me to bed..." She said, her face darkening into more of a crimson color. " I want to know... did you look at me... when I was bared?"

" You mean... did I look at you while you were naked?" He asked, feeling all the color draining from his face, as he realized her question.

" Yes!" She said with a small escape of air. " Did you look at me naked... in a way a man does a woman? Did you or did you not?"

The clarity of Robin's very blunt question actually shocked the tall Lawyer. He had expected something like that to be posed to him, but he found that he was not ready quite for it. He weighed the answer he was going to give in his mind, debating whether to hide the fact that he had looked at her the way he did or just come out and tell her. He was at odds within his own self, feeling more than just a bit of shame that he had indeed had taken more than a simple glance at her bared beauty.

" Yes... I did!" He said, the truth seemingly the only way to answer her. He had never lied to her, and he knew that he could not start now.

Robin seemed to pause in limbo, her mind obviously was racing inside of her head while she sat there. Nagira waited for some reaction, as he wondered just how this pious, very simple girl would end up reacting. His mind was now throwing around countless swears, all directed at himself, and they were being repeated over and over again, feeling so guilty that he had taken that time to look at what was just a helpless young girl.

The girl seemed to start blushing even harder, as she sat so quiet. The man waited in silence also, waiting for her to voice her condemnation for his actions, and knowing that he would deserve every last one of them the girl could sling at him.

" Did you think I was... pretty... when you looked at me when I was naked?" She said with a shy tone. " Were you... attracted to me in such a way?"

Nagira was astonished by the girl's very direct question, a question he never would have imagined that would ever come out of her mouth. There he was though, and that question had been asked by the young beauty. This was the one reaction he never even would have ever imagined.

In his mind, Nagira fumbled a little with what he could say, but he soon found that the truth was wanting to rush out, his heart now was not wanting to lie. He looked at the girl, and found that he could not lie to those emerald colored diamonds that stared at him

" You are beautiful..." He said, shocking himself with his admission. " I always knew that you were pretty on the inside... let's just say that I now see you are just as beautiful and amazing on the outside as well."

The girl blushed even greater, turning to face away and going silent. She lifted the binoculars to her eyes again, showing that she was not going to say anything else for awhile. The man could understood why she was ignoring him right now, and decided that letting her have a little space for a time would be a good thing for now. Feeling uncomfortable himself, he welcomed that.

As suddenly as the silence had started only a few seconds ago, Robin broke the silence with a flurry of words.

" Look, Look, Nagira! Look down at the field!!." Robin repeated twice in succession, her voice now very excited.

" What?" The man asked in reply as he raised his spyglasses, wanting to see what had gotten the girl like this.

" The Factory truck... It's there!!" She said flatly.

They both could now see the same armored truck as the night Robin was shot, entering the fenced area while a group of guards lined the gate Nagira and Robin watched as the truck drove passed the gate and down a narrow dirt path that was in the very center of the field.

They both had noted that it was the exact same truck. Even from where they we hidden up on the hill, clearly seen pock marks from the bullets from the other night scarred the thick armored skin of the huge vehicle. It was clear that it was the truck from the video, and the other night.

They watched as the vehicle got near the very center of the field, driving somewhat slowly as it went along. In front of the truck, the ground seemed to drop and the earth opened up. From their vantage point, they could see that it was a huge opening that showed a large cement tunnel leading even more deeper into the ground. Nagira hurriedly snapped many pictures, watching all of this unfold through the lens.

The truck drove in quickly, going straight into the darkness as it descended into the tunnel's depths. The earth flipped back up as soon as the truck was completely out of sight, closing up tightly in the space of one single blink as it had been. With the opening gone, there was no indication of the tunnel ever being there now. They watched as things returned to normal and guards hurried back to their posts.

Nagira looked over at the girl. He had found at theat second, even more respect for this small slip of a girl that he already had, and it was much more. All the proof they needed was not only layed out in front of his eyes, but in every little pixel that the camera had captured.

" You were so right, Girl." The man slowly said, lowering the camera. " Even my contact never know this..."

The girl nodded, seemingly that she preferred not to be right, but also glad that she had been. She looked over to the man, her serious face had came back and she seemed to be knowing what to do next.

" Let's get these pictures back to the office..." Robin said, her face showing emotions aplenty. " We need to show all of this to the others, and work out things so that we can stop them."

" It will be hard, judging by the lay out of this place..." Nagira pointed out, turning the car's engine over. " It's clear that is why this place was set up like this... I smell Zaizen hand from the grave at work here."

As the car pulled out of hiding and began speeding back to the STN-J headquarters, Robin looked at her friend.

" It will be hard... but we have to work together..." She said, her voice tight and almost unrecognizable.

" Like we did with Zaizen's first factory?" Nagira said as flat as he had ever spoken, remembering the episode like it had just happened.

" This one might be harder than the first..." Was all the tawny haired hunter said back, her voice still tight.

Nagira nodded and continued driving back into the heart of the city, the interior of the car falling very strangely silent. The words of the girl rang so true for Nagira. It will be quite a bit tougher than the first one... and he wondered if they could actually succeed... before other witches could die and become ORBO, and whoever these people are, their political might be too high to stop them at that point.

As the sports car drove away back into Tokyo's crowded center, another vehicle stopped up the road. Large and black with a dull metallic sheen, who ever it was had spotted the smaller car leaving on the secondary byway. It seemed to just sit there, behind a old canning facility, until the sporty little auto was out of sight.

The lumbering behemoth of a truck then turned around surprisingly quickly and sped off in the opposite direction, and straight to the gates of the fenced area.


	20. Chapter 20 A simple calm

**Chapter 20 - A simple calm, a coming storm**

Michael was hard at work at the computer, once again. With Robin intently looking over his shoulder, the lad was like lightning on the keyboard, his whole being was focused on the monitor in front of him. Robin had some photographs tightly in her hand, holding them out seemingly for the lad to use as reference.

Nagira and the commissioner stood nearby the two working, watching what was going on in silence. The tall lawyer seemed to be thinking again, not even really sipping on the coffee he held in one hand

" How in the hell did you get the army to let us legally use the special op's satellite systems to probe the sight that may have the second Factory under it?" Asked Nagira, looking at the balding man.

The man grinned and winked at Nagira with a confidence that was amazing.

" Being the STN-J's head man now, I have acquired a few connections that most do not." He smirked. " Some of the great perks in this job."

" Connections?" The man said in questioning.

" Yes... wonderful and necessary connections!" The Commissioner said with a pleased look on his face. " Army, navy... hell, even the Japanese parliament is receptive to me now."

Nagira raised one of his eyebrows high, as he looked over at the man with a sideways tilt of his head.. The man was full of surprises this morning.

" Did ya have to end up kissing someone's ass or pay someone off to gain access to this?" Asked Nagira in half jest.

" No, Mr. Syunji... I did not have to do neither of those things..." Kosaku said, cracking a wry smile towards the taller man. " It was all just a matter of knowing who to call when needed, and who you know also helps out." He smirked broader. " I just happened to know both."

Nagira snuffed and gave a chuckle, seeing Kosaku smiling like the cat that ate the canary. The little bald man always seemed so unimpressive and a little dowdy in his ways as well, but he had to give the STN-J's head man his dues, he knew his job well. The commissioner seemed to always pull out surprises, and this one seemed that it could very well help them out in this instance.

Watching Kosaku walk off, Nagira found the man to be more interesting and respect-worthy than he ever had previously. The outward appearance of the man never told the entire story... but in knowing the others here at the STN-J...that should have never been a surprise either.

" _Who would of thought?"_ Nagira said to himself.

With Robin busy with the brainy youth, and the other hunters also working hard on different things, Nagira slipped away for a smoke. He knew right now, his expertise was not needed at the moment. He had the time to go for a smoke, one that was long overdue by his cravings.

Finding a place to sit outside, he lit his cigarette and just enjoyed the very warm air. He was glad to have a some time to simply sit and think. Aside from the mission he was on, his mind was very much filled with things. The thing that crammed his mind was the pretty hunter girl that was working so hard back in Raven's Flat.

He thought on the girl, and their 'little' talk int the car while surveying the possible sight of the Second Factory. He had almost had come out and told her his feelings right then and there, but her sudden silence had stopped him. He was unsure of her feelings towards him looking at her when he helped her, even though he had done nothing outwardly inappropriate to her... but he admitted to himself right then, he really wanted to.

He sighed and took a drag from the smoke, letting the whitish-grey plume go to dance on the gentle breeze. He kept telling himself that he needed to keep his feelings hidden for now, but the talk he had with Father Juliano still replayed in his head. He grudgingly gave it to the man, he was right about what his feelings were for Robin, but he also knew the varying things that were wrong with that... all of them.

Nagira looked up to the sky, his mind filled with almost a resentment towards himself for even thinking what he was. He fought himself quite a bit on this point, why should this day be any different.

" Get a grip, Nagira!" He whispered to himself, knowing that this was wrong even to consider, but his heart said otherwise.

A low timbered voice calling out near him, startled him back to the world outside of his mind. He took a glance over, acting calm and cool to see who was calling. It was Robin's Grandfather who had called out to him, walking over with a strong stride.

The priest gave a large smile to Nagira as he neared.

" You found someplace find a little peace and quiet, I see?" He said, with his big baritone voice.

" Somethin' like that." Nodded Nagira, feeling odd that he had been thinking the way he had been, then the man showing up like this.

The priest nodded and took out a plain looking pipe from his overcoat. He quickly stuffed it from a pouch he also produced from his pocket and lit it. Nagira was shocked by this action from Juliano.

" You smoke?" He asked, his lips curling into a smirk with seeing the man there with the pipe.

" A little indulgence is not totally against out teachings." He smiled, puffing away like a steam train. " Even a priest needs a little something for himself now and then, and I enjoy it from time to time."

Nagira found himself giving a chuckle,, knowing exactly what the man was meaning. The two men just stood there and smoked in silence for awhile under the warming sun, neither man seemingly wanting to be too chatty at the moment anyway.

The priest looked up, quickly finished with his pipeful. He tapped the pipe bowl clean with the heel of his shoe and then looked at the man.

" I heard about your little discovery from Commissioner Kosaku a few minutes ago..." He said.

" It seems that we have found the second Factory." Nagira said with a sigh..

" Yes... apparently you both just may have..." The priest said with a serious gaze. " It's good to hear that because I just got another report that another person has vanished... and by the lineage in the records we have on the man, he was a seed."

Nagira grunted, not liking the information..

" When?"

" Last night, by the report we got..." The man simply said. " The man was taken out of his home, and simply vanished... a vehicle sped away from the house" He said " Just like that family of four that had been snatched and carted off."

Nagira felt a bitter taste flood his mouth when he had been reminded of the missing family. He had almost forgotten about the family, since Robin had been injured a few day prior, but now it leaped into his mind again. It made him despise what happened all over again.

" I heard about the Yamamoto family..." He said, voice now tightened and dropped in tone. " Was this new Witch spotted being taken out by the same people as what was reported?"

The priest looked at Nagira and shook his head.

" There was no clear cut eyewitness this time to the abduction..." Juliano said slowly. " But a report of a neighbor down the street details the sighting of a large truck speeding away from the direction of this man's house."

" Same description as the Factory's trucks?" Nagira asked..

" To a tee, I hate to say." The clergyman replied " Seems that whoever it is that is running all of this, is collecting them for the manufacturing of the ORBO in earnest, and is apparently in a hurry to do so."

The tall lawyer made a face as he had already put all of that together. The priest was right, and he also hoped that they could do something to stop it. The question was just how they were going to pull it off. He thought for a moment that perhaps they would have to do a 'Amon' thing, like the last time. It was a way to attack this problem, but he felt that would not be the way to do it.

He finished his smoke and flicked it away as he turned to head back in. He wanted to see if there was any more information come in to the office. The priest stopped him voicelessly by putting his hand on Nagira's arm.

" My I have a few moments to speak personally?" He said.

The tall man looked at the black dressed man-of-the-cloth, and paused to hear what he had to say. He was not quite sure what the man wanted, but he did want to hear out the man.

Juliano stepped closer to the taller man, a calm look crossing his lightly wrinkling features.

" I heard what you did for my granddaughter..." He started.

" Let me explain..." Nagira said quickly, wanting him to know that he had nothing inappropriate in his actions.

" Calm yourself, my son..." Said the man, holding up his hand to quiet the nervous man and speaking in a very low tone. " I know you did nothing to harm Robin, and that is not the reason behind my wanting to talk to you."

Nagira was a little confused at that moment. There was not sign of anger or condemnation in the priest's eyes.

" Then... what?" He asked of the priest.

" I wanted to say that I was very glad that you helped Robin, and all with the utmost dignity and honor." The huskier man said " She came to me and told me of how you had helped her when you had to, and all in total respect to her."

The thin man felt guilty at that moment, knowing that he had peeked at the young girl like he had. It was clear that the girl had not divulged the fact of what he had told her in the car yet. He lowered his head.

" I don't think I was all that respectful to her... it's less than that" He said, wanting to be truthful about it. " I admit that I looked at her when I helped her get undressed, and eyed her with a hunger that was not at all right to do."

Nagira stopped talking and waited for a exploding tirade to hit him, feeling like he deserved to be rebuked and much more. To his surprise, the man stood there looking at him with a warm smile. The dark haired man eyed at the priest, unsure of just what reaction was going to happen now. With him silently watching the man, he waited for some indication to come from the man.

The man finally answered with a nod of his head.

" I know also about what you had revealed Robin this morning.." The priest said calmly.

" And you are not angered?" Nagira asked, shocked. " I looked at her, when she was wholly naked, eyeing her up and down like some lecherous old man and all... does that not make you angry?"

" On the contrary, my friend Nagira, it does not make me angry..." The man slowly answered. " I was impressed by your very blunt honesty to Robin, and also assured with the fact that you did not act on your leering in the delicate state she was in when you helped her. You just did what you had to, and left" He smiled. " Let me just say that fact also did not pass Robin by either."

" Ah... what?" Nagira said, not understanding the last part of what Father Juliano was saying.

The burly vicar chuckled again, and looked at the taller man and seeing his confusion that painted his face.

" I think that you have missed what I was trying to say to you..." Chuckled Juliano, seeing the man was not understanding what his point was..

" I don't... Tell me then... What is it that you are trying to say?" Asked the very bewildered lawyer.

" By your kind and true actions towards her, and the fact that you were nothing but very gentlemanly with her... she really noticed that and more..." He started. " I am saying that she is now starting to see her feelings for you in a way she had never seen before. Feelings she had been dismissing for some time."

" She is still only sixteen..." Came back the man, wanting to let the man know that he saw that fact all too clearly.

Juliano reached out and touched the man's arm. He looked at the man with a very knowing gaze.

" I told you awhile back... she is more than a woman than most ever get..." He said, adding without a pause. " Age matters sometimes, but with Robin... I have no doubt about that it wont."

" I am over twice her age." He gasped. " I don't understand how you could even think this... and I am shocked that you are not only her Grandfather, but a Priest."

" She is of consent in Japan now..." The priest said. " Normally I would not even condone anything like this, and I know what the doctrines are... but I can't cast a blind eye towards a love that is right there, is real and is so pure."

The priest then turned and walked off towards where _Harry's_ restaurant would be a few blocks down. He called out as he left, looking at the man who was still standing there very stunned.

" Don't hid a heart... share it."

Once the man was gone, Nagira turned and headed back inside, trying to forget the conversation. He found that he could not mask the conversation from his own mind. The priest's words rang in his head as he headed up to the computer room.

Nagira entered the workroom, and found that things were kind of more frantic than when he had left. It looked like maps had been printed out and now were strewn on every last desk the room had. Curious, he headed over to where he could see the pretty hunter girl, wanting to find out just what was going on that was causing all the excitement.

Robin was mulling over a large map in front of her as the man neared. The commissioner was just there, and as he left, Nagira saw the long face on the man. That did not hold anything good for the tall lawyer.

Nagira looked at the pretty young hunter, as she was still very intently looking over what was in front of her.

" You have something?" The man asked.

" We have the layout of some of the underground area from that satellite the Commissioner had used..." She said, with a long sigh. " But it seems that the Satellite could only probe so deep into the ground. It appears that lead had been purposely built into the concrete, this blocking a full scan..."

" I take it we only got a partial mapping of the underground facility?" Nagira said, reading the girl's face.

The tawny haired girl nodded, her face having a stern look of frustration on it's sleekness.

" By the size of the factory's first few levels, we can only guess at Even the Commissioner knows that we have only scratched the surface of just how big it is." Robin paused to look down at the map layed out, then up to Nagira again. " It appears to be a very large complex, and with that said and with what we have at the moment... is not enough to make even a guess at a plan we could use."

Nagira looked down at the map, and could see for himself that it was even better fortified than the original one had been, even from the few levels that had been successfully mapped. He grit his teeth, as he could see this Zaizen fellow had built this one to be one hell of a place to get in to.

Nagira poured over the map, looking at every detail hard and long at it. He noted that it was not clear, and that things seemed to be missing.

" We need more information than what we have right now.. a hell of a lot more." He said plainly.

" SOLOMON has most of the surviving computer data after the other factory's fall..." Said the girl. " Michael told me that... and now he is trying to get access to those files from HQ, but reports say that some of it's data is so badly damaged, many files are lost or wrecked and the encryption on what is actually there is of a type that has never been cracked."

Nagira hated this, bad news on top of bad news.

" Is Michael going to try and piece it together for us, right?" Questioned the tall man, getting a handle on what was going t happen next.

" He said he could try..." Robin said. " Michael thinks he might be able to break the encryption and all, but he has warned me that it will take quite a few days to re-code and defragment it..."

" Did you say days?" He muttered

" He said days." She said somberly. " He said it may take even over a week to sort it all out into what we can use."

Nagira thought for a moment, getting every little bit of information into his mind. After a moment, it was clear to him.

" Lemme guess... even if he did all of that, we still might not end up having enough to start making a plan... right?"

" If we don't... we cant even start to try and shut them down." Was all the young gal said.

" Great!" He spat back at the information he had just gotten.

Michael, overhearing the conversation, broke in.

" SOLOMON have thousands of terrabites of information, and most are encrypted in a language that is not known.. and with the infiltration of rouge agents too, things might have ben altered beyond the damage." The youth explained, his serious looking eyes telling what he felt. " Some of the files are not even named, except in a code that seemed to be missing, and even the scientists at SOLOMON have not ben able to break it still... so that is why it will take me a long time to break it."

" But is it possible that you can sort all of this shit out, where these other have fallen flat on their collective asses?" Re-asked the man. " Even with the factors of these renegade agents?"

" At this point of time... I don't know anything... not until I have all of the information on hand so I can go through it. All I can do is try..." He looked at the man. " Could take me quite awhile to actually just get through."

" Another words all we can do is hurry up and wait?" Gruffly commented Nagira, understanding the lad.

" Afraid so..." The youth said.

Nagira growled a little in the upper part of his chest, as this was just another roadblock that had smacked them in the face. More frustration, more time wasted that allows other people to be taken from Tokyo's streets. That irked the man to no end.

The thin built man walked off to let the people do their thing, wanting nothing more than to just headed to the well area and have another smoke and to quell his frustrations the best he could. Work would keep on going with his departure, and his frustration that had seethed through his entire body would not help any.


	21. Chapter 21 Wisdom comes knocking

**Chapter 21 - Wisdom comes knocking**

Robin slipped into a side room off of the main Computer area, quietly as a mouse scurried around a house. She ducked into the silence of the smaller room, her face looking rather worn out at this point of time.

She winced and held back a little squeak as she shifted her injured arm in the sling. It was still quite painful, but it was not as painful as it had been. She already was aware that because of her own craft, her body had a quicker tendency of healing faster than normal, yet it still would take awhile before that. She wished it was a little faster healing though, even though she could already grasp things with that hand. She shifted the sling to a more comfortable place, and the pain subsided and disappeared.

Robin sat down to rest in a chair just inside the doorway, her body feeling heavy all of a sudden. It already had been a long day, and she knew that it was not going to be over any time soon either. Searching for answers would take time.

She was thinking about Touko, wondering if she was right or not, and hoping that she was in someways wrong about it... but knew how strongly her instincts were on this that she was correct. She rubbed her face, as the feelings of her instincts came back full force, the voice was unmistakable.

Sometime later, Robin's mind soon drifted away from her thoughts, and on to another that had been filling her mind of and on for quite some time. She was now thinking of Nagira, and how he had helped her the other night, feeling grateful for him, but her thoughts were more than just that. Her feelings for th man was right there, even though she had tried so hard to quell them, and they would not stop.

She felt the weight of butterflies now collecting and smashing together in her stomach, and oddly it was actually a good feeling as well. She felt her face breaking into a smile while she thought on the man. Her mind had already begun to wonder why the oddly crude and simply plain man was bringing out so many different and seemingly irrational feelings out of her like it was doing. So many feelings, so many emotions... and every one of them she was experiencing had no real words to begin to describe them..

Her Grandfather appeared in the doorway of the little side room, out of the blue, smiling lovingly at her. She blinked, as his appearance was a total shock to her

" I see that your are in here taking what appears to be a very well earned little break?" He smiled, handing her a steaming cup of coffee he carried.

The tawny haired girl nodded, letting a long sigh go as she took the mug from the man's strong fingers. The man stood there, looking at her through those soft blue eyes that were framed by the soft wrinkles of time on his face, giving him such a friendly distinguished look to him.

" I am still not fully recovered as of yet I guess..." She said, eyeing the coffee in her grasp, reveling in the warmth that it gave her palm. " I was needing to take a little break from what I was doing, then I am going to go over those maps a few more times, and see what I might have missed."

" Takes awhile to heal a body, My child." He said, then added. " I am thinking more along the lines of your heart though... to me, seems that you are bothered by more than just trying to find out more about the second Factory..."

The girl eyed her Grandfather with a surprised look, nearly spitting out the small little sip of coffee she had just taken from the mug. She looked at his softened face, her eyes taking in his features as she stared at him in full of amazement. It was as if the kindly man known as her Grandfather, had somehow read her mind while she was sitting there.

" I am not unaware of the fact that your mind has been filled with something more than just this mission." He smiled warmly, seeing her reaction. " I have seen it quite clearly, if you want to know the truth. It has been written all over your face and held in your eyes like a beacon through the mists of fog, that there is so much more that you have been thinking on for quite awhile now."

" There is...?" The girl asked, a little more than shocked.

The man chuckled and took a seat next to the girl.

" Let me just start by saying that it has been very clear to me, that your heart has been trying to say something to you... and you are desperately struggling against hearing it over and over again..."

" I am, Grandfather..." She said, after a few seconds of silence. " But I am trying not to think of it."

" It has something to do with Nagira, does it not, My child? Doesn't it..." He said smoothly, with a hint of assurance..

" How did you...?" She sputtered.

He chuckled low in his chest as he nodded, then looked right into her eyes. She swallowed hard and looked back.

" My Darling Robin, just because I am old Priest as well as your Grandfather, does not mean that I am too old or forgetful to actually not see love any more." He said cleanly, his words were bold yet holding his trademark softness in it's low timber. " I see it every time you are near him, every time he is near you... it is that clear even to these wizen old eyes, that you two are feeling so much love one another, but neither on of you are not saying just what is held in their hearts."

" I do feel something for him..." She said, stammering away, but the words still leaping out of her. " But he is the older brother of Amon...much older than Amon was... I am only a girl of sixteen... How can this actually be?"

The Priest turned to face the girl, taking her slender hand softly into his hands, and squeezing them ever so lightly. He regarded her with loving eyes, reading all of the waves of confusion, fears and the unknown, which her deep emerald gaze could not ever have hidden any longer.

" I know you loved Amon... but I can honestly see there is even more of a depth to what you are feeling for this man. I see it as a sort of a true awakening of your soul, you might say." He said softly, his tone as warm as a fireplace on a cold night. " You have to answer me one question to get this ball rolling.. answering it with every fiber of your being, being truth ful to me, to our Lord and to your own self."

" What question, Grandfather?" She said.

Father Juliano stared directly into Robin's eyes, his seriousness was unmistakable and all to clear.

" As God is your witness... Do you love this man?" He said, his eyes showing how serious he was to the Tawny haired girl.

The girl paused as the man's eyes held her, her mind searching the deepest parts of her heart for the answer, but it really seemed like she already had the answer right there all along. Robin raised her face a little more, looking directly into the gentle smile held in her Grandfather's eyes.

" Yes... I do..." She started slowly, the admitting words just coming out. " But he might not..."

" But you worry that he does not feel the same to you... do you not, Granddaughter?" He probed in his fatherly way, words that told Robin that he understood her broken statement..

" Yes!" Robin said, thankful that her Grandfather had the words she struggled to bring out. " And much... much more!"

He regarded her with a seemingly angelic stare, getting her attention without uttering a word for many paused moments. She was locked into his stare, waiting for what he had to say to her.

" I can assure you that I really think he has the same feelings... and the heaviness of these concerns as you do." Father Juliano said. He layed his hand on her shoulder, getting her to really hear his next words clearly " Go and talk to Nagira... perhaps he will tell you what his heart has been telling him... if it is what I am thinking of, I believe that God changes the age differences and every other things, into what truly is with his will for you both. He will inevitable bless love in all of its diversity and complexities."

She looked off a little, her mind searching for her wants, her heart searching for the words. The man waited, seemingly waiting for something to come out of her mouth.

" But we are in the middle of something big... the Second factory must be found and delt with... before they do more harm... " She said slowly. " How can I go chasing after some idea of love I am having, when this is happening?"

The priest looked over at the girl, his smile was there once more.

" Love don't have a time line... it don't follow any set rules or anything... it is purely God's will, simply because it is his loving gift to us to receive..." Father Juliano said not even giving it a second of thought. " He puts love in you for a reason, but because we are his people here on this earth, we don't have the understanding of his reasons... and a gift cannot be deigned. Plainly explained, he will help us with our mission, as well as the many smaller and more personal missions individually, as long as we accept the gifts he gives us with open arms and a pure heart."

Robin mulled over what had been said, hearing the wisdom that her beloved Grandfather had bestowed on her. It was all there, and she knew the gravity of each word would changer her, and her life forever.

" I am confused and scared of all of this, Grandfather..." She whispered, her mind spinning a little. " These feelings are just so... so.."

" Would the word you are searching for be... overwhelming?" He suggested the word.

" Yeah!" She nodded.

" As to be expected... your inexperience in this area shows through." The old priest said, understanding her feelings. " The Lord will help with that as well, just be unafraid and follow that what he has put in your heart... put your trust wholly into his hands, and you will reap all of the many rewards of his bountiful love many times over."

The girl took a moment in pausing, to think on her Grandfather's very wise and eye opening words. She found herself not being as afraid as she had been, it actually was that her mind had not been so clear and void of her doubts and fears for so very long. Smiling with the serenity that seemed to ave settled inside of herself, the vision of Nagira now was strongly placed in her mind.

She looked over to thank her Grandfather for the much needed words of his wisdom and understanding, but he had left the room without her noticing he had. In the silence that now was in the room once more, she was more than just sure of what she had to do now, and headed back out to the main area to finish her work, feeling more like herself since returning to the STN fold only a very short time ago.

Robin found Michael still hard at work with the mountains of information that was coming in on his computer, but Nagira was no where to be seen in the room. She glanced around, but there was no indication of where the man had gone to, or even if he had fully left the building. Either way, he was simply not there.

The young Hunter took a breath in, knowing that the right time to talk with the man was coming, but not now.

" _God's Timing!"_ The young girl kept telling herself. She had to be patient and wait._ " The Lord's timing was always right, even when we are all too impatient to wait on his ultimate gifts."_

Walking across the computer room to her desk with a seemingly invigorated step, she returned to work on scouring the map for anything that she might have passed over the many times previously. Putting her mind on the task at hand, and knowing that there will be the time to talk to the tall thin man known as Nagira, it seemed like she was much more clear headed and able to concentrate on everything now.

It was as if, her own inner-self had been somehow reborn... and recharged.


End file.
